Brookhaven Town looks to transfer water districts to county authority

Brookhaven officials want to pay off as much as $2 million in outstanding debt before transferring several water districts to the Suffolk County Water Authority as part of the town's consolidation efforts.

Town board members at a meeting Thursday set four public hearings about discontinuing the separate water districts in Medford, Holtsville and Shirley, where there are two districts. They are all operated by the county authority but are considered town taxing districts. The hearings are scheduled for Sept. 13 at town hall.

Officials estimate the changeover will cost between $1 million and $2 million. Funds for the project will come from a portion of a $20 million state grant awarded to the town in June to help expand efforts to cut taxes by eliminating unnecessary special districts and by sharing services.

The state grant was awarded through the first state Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Competition, designed to encourage local governments to combine services and eliminate wasteful spending. Brookhaven bested five upstate counties to win the competition.

“We’re using the grant money to pay off any outstanding debt," Brookhaven chief of operations Matt Miner said at the meeting.

Brookhaven's grant application included an agreement to transfer the water districts if the town was awarded the money.

“We’re consolidating,” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said after the meeting. "These are paper districts for the most part that ... we are transferring to the water authority as part of our consolidation of government services.”

Town officials are working to “fulfill the requirements of the Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Plan to reduce the number of governmental and taxing authorities within the town,” according to the resolution about transferring the water districts.

The Suffolk County Water Authority has operated the water districts for nearly two decades, officials said.

“From an operational standpoint, we do nothing,” Miner said.

If the transfer of the four water districts is approved, the only remaining town water district would be in Stony Brook.

“We’re working the details out on that one,” Miner said.