Woodbourne, NY

To the editor:

Mike, you campaigned knowing how serious the Town’s water and sewer problems were. After being Town Supervisor for 7 months, you can see from the inside just how complex the water and sewer problems really are in Fallsburg. I am sure that you agree there is no quick fix. 

The problems we are seeing, water shortages, broken mains and inadequate sewage capacity in the peak summer season did not just happen nor start under your watch. What we are experiencing today is the result of the inaction of previous Town Boards. They did not want to face the issues, prepare for the future, or put together a comprehensive plan to upgrade all the systems. 

Previous Town Boards allowed our outdated broken water system and sewer plant to reach capacity and continue unrestricted development. Mr. Supervisor and Town Board Members, this cannot be kicked down the road any longer.

To fix both systems is going to take a lot of money. It’s not likely to come from State or Federal grants. You can see from the feedback the Town is receiving on social media platforms that the full-time residents are blaming the Town Board for approving all the new housing developments. They correctly believe this is the reason for not having a system that can deliver enough water. Not having enough water to serve the full-time residents has caused local Fire Departments to come up with a plan to use tankers to haul water to fires. Let’s pray the Town doesn’t experience a major fire like some in the recent past that put people’s lives at risk. 

Pointing fingers and talking about the water problems on Facebook won’t solve this problem. Does the Town budget have the money the Town is spending this summer to provide water to the residents? The next budget will have to allocate more funds to the water department just to maintain the current system until money is found to upgrade it. Some board members are calling for hiking the water and sewer rates by 10%. This will only fund the short-term band-aid approaches the Town is currently employing.

Politically, this is a difficult issue. We have reached the point where the Town must stop all future building until the water and sewer system is rebuilt. In addition, no one has done any surveys or studies to determine if the water aquifer can be counted on for future needs. Major developments cannot continue to be built when the Town does not even have the necessary funding to remedy today’s needs. The Town is mortgaging its future hoping all the development will generate enough revenue to cover the additional costs these developments have brought, water and sewer being a prime example. It’s time to face the fact that what the Town is doing is inadequate for the present and devastating for the future.