New York S 10181: Establishes the Birch Hill-Highview Water District in the town of Southeast, Putnam County

Bill Text

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S10181 Summary:

BILL NOS10181 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS A11258

&nbsp

SPONSORHARCKHAM

&nbsp

COSPNSR

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

&nbsp

Establishes the Birch Hill - Highview Water District in the town of Southeast, Putnam County.

Go to top S10181 Actions:

BILL NOS10181 

&nbsp

05/04/2026REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT

06/03/2026COMMITTEE DISCHARGED AND COMMITTED TO RULES

06/03/2026ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.1673

06/03/2026HOME RULE REQUEST

06/03/2026PASSED SENATE

06/03/2026DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY

06/04/2026referred to local governments

Go to topS10181 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS10181 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topS10181 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 10181

 IN SENATE

 May 4, 2026
 ___________

 Introduced by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government

 AN ACT establishing the Birch Hill - Highview Water District in the town
 of Southeast, Putnam County

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. Legislative findings. It is hereby found and determined
 2 that the town of Southeast, Putnam County, hereinafter known as the
 3 town, spent general fund money in the amount of $348,544.39 to make
 4 improvements to the water system, part of which had been owned and oper-
 5 ated by the Birch Hill Water Company and part of which had been a shared
 6 water system serving multiple individual homeowners prior to the estab-
 7 lishment of the Birch Hill - Highview Water District in accordance with
 8 the provisions of Article 12-A of the town law. In 2015, the town spent
 9 general fund money in the amount of $268,906.32 for the construction and
 10 repair of existing water well(s), improvements to the pump house(s) and
 11 for the repair and replacement of distribution facilities. It was later
 12 determined that the wells serving the water system contained higher than
 13 acceptable levels of carcinogenic chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic
 14 acid and related compounds, known generally as PFOA, which requires
 15 remediation. In the years that followed, the town spent additional
 16 general fund money in the amount $79,638.07 for the design and approval
 17 of systems to remediate the water quality in the affected wells together
 18 with additional repairs and replacement of supply and distribution
 19 facilities of the water district. The expenditure of such funds by the
 20 town board prior to the district's establishment as described above was
 21 in violation of the provisions of section 165.10 of the local finance
 22 law. Further, the town failed to repay the moneys advanced from the
 23 general fund to make improvements to the former water system by the
 24 close of the fiscal year in which the advance was made with reasonable
 25 interest in accordance with section 9-a of the general municipal law.
 26 Lastly, bond resolutions were not adopted by the town board at the
 27 times such funds were paid and, as a result, the town is prohibited from
 28 financing such costs with bonds or notes. The specific actions taken by
 29 the town in furtherance of establishment of the Birch Hill - Highview
 30 Water District and the construction and financing of improvements there-
 31 in are more fully described as follows:

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD15744-01-6

 S. 10181 2

 1 Upon the death of the owner of the Birch Hill Water Company, the water
 2 system fell into disrepair. The estate of the owner of the Birch Hill
 3 Water Company made attempts to obtain approval of rate increases from
 4 the public service commission to help fund the ongoing maintenance and
 5 repair of the water system, which attempts were unsuccessful. Ultimate-
 6 ly, the estate conveyed title to the water system to the town for nomi-
 7 nal consideration and the town assumed operation of the water system and
 8 commenced proceedings to establish a water district. Before the
 9 proceedings to establish the water district could be concluded, the
 10 Putnam County department of health, in determining what improvements
 11 needed to be ma