By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Despite objections from one trustee, the Village Board will hold a public hearing for a proposed water and sewer lateral line installation fee schedule. The board decided by a 4-1 vote to set it for Oct. 21 at 5:30 p.m., prior to the regular board meeting that day.

The dissenting vote was Trustee Francis Carvel.

Under the proposal, a resident would pay 50 percent of the cost of labor, materials and associated fees, with the village picking up the other half. In September, Public Works Superintendent Hassan Fayad said the average total bill is about $1,800, meaning a resident would be charged $900.

The current schedule is to charge $500 if the main is on the same side of the street as the structure, $750 if it’s in the middle of the street and $1,000 if it’s on the opposite side.

Carvel says the proposal is misleading and doesn’t give someone a straight answer about what they’ll pay.

“Why don’t we have a written policy so … there’s a written estimate of what the cost is going to be,” Carvel said.

He believes the changes will have a disproportionate negative impact on older areas of the village, which is home to some of its poorest residents, as well as disabled and elderly people on fixed incomes.

“The people who can afford it the least, it’s going to affect the most,” Carvel said.

He said the tab would run higher in those neighborhoods because of older water and sewer facilities that don’t match modern equivalents.

Trustee Timothy Ahlfeld said last month that the law forbids any municipality from charging a flat fee for water and sewer hookups.

He and Carvel clashed over what increased revenue from changing the law would mean for village coffers.

“We’re not supposed to be subsidizing our budget with this,” Carvel said.

“”If you’re charging for time and materials, you’re not subsidizing,” Ahlfeld replied.

Carvel told the board he had contacted water and sewer departments in Watertown and Plattsburgh and said they use a flat fee to make a lateral hookup to the municipal water systems.

“It spells out exactly what [residents] are going to pay for a lateral regardless if it’s three feet or 100 feet (from the curbstop),” he said.