Harrison Water Prices to Go Up 28%

HARRISON - The price of water is going up in Harrison after the town board passed a 28 percent increase in across-the-board water prices that they said will help the financially struggling Westchester Joint Water Works get out of debt.

The change was approved last Thursday.

The price increase will include increased service charges based on the size of a resident's water meter along with increased consumption charges based on the quantity of water used.

The change is a result of a $1.7 million dollar water deficit within the WJWW, a Mamaroneck based company that provides Harrison with water.

The sudden increase, according to town officials, is a result of increased costs of obtaining and treating water while prices have remained steady over the past five years.

"One of the problems is that (in the past) they refused to raise rates," said Harrison Mayor/Supervisor Joan Walsh. "Even though the cost of the water we bought from New York City went up and goes up every June."

The WJWW serves the Town/Village of Harrison as well as the Town and Village of Mamaroneck and parts of Rye and New Rochelle. It's board of trusties is a three person board consisting of the supervisors of the Town/Village of Harrison, Town of Mamaroneck and Village of Mamaroneck.

The board of trusties discussed price increases during a meeting in early April after representatives from the WJWW told them that they would not be able to continue to operate without a significant bump in revenue.

Harrison Village Attorney Robert Paladino said that all three municipalties will be asked to increase prices, adding that the Village of Mamaroneck could be facing increases as high as 45 percent. However, that number has not yet been finalized.

Another reason for the massive WJWW debt, according to Walsh, was a decrease in water use last year. Because less people used water during last year's rainy summer, the WJWW was unable to cover its own expenses.

If the proposed increases are also adopted in the Town and Village of Mamaroneck it would mean that the three municipalities that are part of the WJWW are all near the medium residential water cost in comparison to the other 25 water districts in Westchester and Putnum Counties.

All three had previously been in the lower half of the payment scale.

The rate increase is expected to erase the debt of the WJWW, as well as fund most of the budget for this year, according to Harrison Comptroller Maureen Mackenzie. This would mean that the organization that supplies water to Harrison would no longer be running at a deficit.

"What we are trying to do is erase as much of the debt as possible so that we are on a pay as you go basis," said Walsh.

The town board said that it intends to work more closely with the WJWW to ensure that sudden increases do not continue to occur in the future. Walsh cited new management and new technology that will improve the way that the town does business with the WJWW.

"It's a much better run organization, it's a much more efficient organization and we never have to worry about our water supply, but because rates have never been raised in any systematic fashion we have a debt," said Walsh. "It's unfortunate it's in this climate, but this is the way things fall."