The city of Oneonta Common Council failed to approve proposed sewer rates and a water rate schedule for 2026 at a Tuesday, Nov. 25 special meeting.
The council failed to adopt a local law that would have set 2026 sewer rates, and in a separate motion voted against adopting a proposed schedule of water rates. Scott Harrington, R-Sixth Ward, and Kaytee Lipari Shue, D-Fourth Ward, voted no to both motions. Len Carson, R-Fifth Ward, and Shannon McHugh, D-Third Ward, were absent, and all remaining council members voted yes.
Harrington said that with the proposed 6.3% tax levy increase this year, he worried about his constituents struggling to pay their bills. The 2026 sewer rates proposal stated a $10 increase in minimum and 10% increase in Steps 2 to 4 of gallon consumption, with 2% thereafter.
Don Mathisen, D-Eighth Ward, said he supported increases in water and sewer rates to improve infrastructure. He has spoken out against the tax levy increase exceeding the tax cap at previous meetings.
“It’s important that we take care of the things and upgrade the kind of infrastructure that we have,” Mathisen said. “In my mind, the most important things are clean water, that we take in, which we use to drink and cook with and bathe in.”
He said he feels it is important to maintain the sewer system, but he continues to be opposed to a general property tax increase.
Moving to discuss the water table rates, Lipari Shue asked if under last year’s system, revenue increased, decreased or remained the same. Virginia Lee, the city’s finance director, said the revenue exceeded the anticipated budget “in a combined total just slightly.”
After the meeting, Lee said last year the initial proposal was to increase each step of water usage 10%. She said she ultimately ended up changing it to vary the percentage so “the higher paid user would pay more than the lower paid user.” There was a $5 increase in minimum.
In the 2026 water rate proposal, the minimum payment is $265 for those who use 37,000 gallons or less a year. It presents a $12 increase in minimum, with 10% increase for Steps 2 to 4 of water usage and a 2% increase thereafter.
About 26 users out of the city’s roughly 4,000 users saw bill increases of more than 25%, Lee said, adding that because of how the rate table was adjusted last year, it needed to be balanced between steps of water usage.
Lee said in the system proposed for the 2026 budget, the higher water users are paying 40% to 50% more for the water they are receiving.
It could be beneficial, Lipari Shue said, to come up with an alternative water rate proposal if the council is unable to pass the proposals as written. Harrington said if all of the money went toward infrastructure, he would be for it, but not all of it does. He said money is pulled out for vehicles, which he does not classify as infrastructure.
Lipari Shue said she would be in favor of higher increases once the city can bill incrementally. She said it would allow people to budget easier, as $25 a month is easier to fit into a budget than a larger bill. Lee said homeowners have the opportunity to pay the city every month if they want to, but people do not take advantage of it.
Harrington said his constituents feel that they are paying too much in water and sewer bills.
“Right, wrong or indifferent, that is what they feel, and they are entitled to it,” Harrington said. “As their representative, I am up here to voice their concern.”
About 1,900 customers do not go above the water minimum of 37,000 gallons, Lee said. She said it is a range of people at 5,000 gallons a year to those just under 37,000 gallons.
Lee said the average person uses 82 gallons of water a day, which at after a year would add up to about 29,900 gallons for one person.
“I have to make them understand that they are not just paying for their water usage, but they’re also paying for all of the plants and the infrastructure that we need to provide to get that water to and from their house,” Lee said.
Director of Public Works Chris Yacobucci said the city has an obligation to the residents to provide water and sewer, something that is becoming more and more difficult. He said when it rains, water infiltrates the sewer systems and enters the wastewater treatment plant.
“On average our waste water treatment plant is 2 million gallons a day,” Yacobucci said. “It’s designed to do 4 million gallons a day. When it rains, it goes up to 8 million gallons a day. We can’t treat that. So raw sewage goes into the Susquehanna River.”
Elayne Mosher Campoli, D-First Ward, said the Budget Review Committee met with the Department of Public Works in June for almost two hours. She said if the goal in having the committee was “to expedite these conversations, I question how that ended up working out for us.”
Mayor Mark Drnek said the council would revisit the topics at its next meeting when more council members were present.