For some Glen Head homes, double-billing for water to end

The owners of two dozen Glen Head homes that border Glen Cove no longer will be double-billed for water services after the Town of Oyster Bay approved a request from the Jericho Water District to remove them from its tax rolls.

The homes are part of the district but get water service — and water bills — from Glen Cove.

“These properties hooked up to Glen Cove water when they were constructed, some in the early 50s and some in the early 60s,” Glen Cove Deputy Mayor Donna McNaughton wrote in an email. “Glen Cove has been billing these properties for water usage from the time they were constructed.”

The houses are on Viola Drive, Sandra Court, Libby Drive, Linda Court, Sands Road and East Drive, according to an Oyster Bay Town Board resolution.

Approved Dec. 13, it authorized Nassau County's assessor to remove the properties from the water district's tax rolls while preserving the right to reinstate them in the future.

The water district's Board of Commissioners determined it would be fair to suspend the properties from the tax rolls, according to board attorney Michael Ingham of Farmingdale-based Carman Callahan & Ingham LLP.

The properties will “always remain within the jurisdictional boundary of the district,” Ingham also wrote in an email to Newsday. “Consequently, if in the future the district decides that it is practical to extend its distribution system to these homes, they will be reinstated to the tax rolls.”

Ingham said none of the property owners had requested a refund and that even if they did, the district is legally allowed to collect taxes from those properties whether or not they get water services.

One of the property owners, Viola Drive resident Delia Verna, said in a Dec. 21 interview that she and her husband had lived in their home for more than 50 years and didn’t realize they were paying taxes to the water district.

“I get billing from Glen Cove,” Verna said. “I don’t know anything about my taxes being taxed from the Jericho Water District.”

County tax records show her property’s 2022 taxes included $115.82 for the district.