By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Village officials are hoping to get their water and sewer hook-up policy in line with what the state mandates and save village residents 50 percent of the cost in the process, according to Public Works Superintendent Hassan Fayad.

He said the board is finalizing language of the new law, for which the board may set a public hearing date at their Sept. 15 meeting.

Under the proposed change, a village resident would be charged 50 percent of the cost of materials, labor and associated fees with the municipality picking up the other half.

"It's supposed to be a perk of living in the village," Fayad said, adding that those outside the village will be billed the full amount.

He said the bill would be affected by how far from a house the village would have to go to tap into the lines. He said the average cost, for homes where the nearest hook-up is in the middle of the street, would come in around $1,800, but the user would pay $900.

Right now, the village charges a flat fee. It costs $500 if the main is on the side closest to the street, $750 if it's in the middle of the street and $1,000 if it's all the way across the road.

Fayad said the flat fee schedule is illegal, based on a ruling from state Supreme Court Judge David Demarest, as well as opinions from the state Comptroller and the Association of Mayors.

"We're going back to the old system prior to the establishment of the illegal flat rates, where we charge for actual labor, equipment and materials," according to Fayad.

He said he looked at surrounding municipalities, including Ogdensburg, Gouverneur, Canton and Potsdam, and the proposed fees are similar to what they are doing.

The topic came up at the Sept. 2 village board meeting and one trustee said he feared the rates could go sky-high.

At last week’s village board meeting, Trustee Francis Carvel said the proposed system could drive up the price by 400 percent over the flat fees to as high as $3,000, but Fayad says that isn't true, citing the $1,800 average estimate. He said factors affecting the price could include the need for traffic control in busier corridors and the depth of the sewer, which varies from neighborhood to neighborhood.