The East Williston village board has filed a second lawsuit against the Williston Park village board in an escalation of the legal battle between the two villages over the water rates Williston Park is charging its neighbor village.
Village of Williston Park Paul Ehrbar revealed the latest lawsuit at Monday night’s village board meeting, saying a suit disputing the most recent water rate increase Williston Park imposed on East Williston was filed on Dec. 4 in Nassau County Supreme Court.
Ehrbar said the suit challenges the right of the Williston Park board to have imposed a water rate increase on East Williston in August, the second consecutive yearly rate increase.
“We’re disappointed we’re going this route. Each time we take a step forward, it seems we go back. Eventually it will be resolved,” Ehrbar said.
Acknowledging the suit, Village of East Williston Mayor David Tanner said his village’s decision had been forced by the Village of Williston Park.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation. However, Williston Park’s mayor and board refused to compromise and we continue to believe that their numbers are skewed in order to get a predetermined financial outcome,” Tanner said in a statement to the Williston Times.
The Village of East Williston filed suit against the Village of Williston Park last year after Williston Park announced in April 2011 that it would be raising East Williston’s water rates from $2.99 per thousand gallons to $3.83 per thousand gallons. The Williston Park village board voted in August to raise East Williston’s water rates a second time – 13 percent increase to $4.33 per 1,000 gallons of water from the $3.83 per 1,000 gallons of water.
Ehrbar said the village board has retained consulting engineers Dvirka & Bartolucci to assist in drafting a reply to the new lawsuit. Dvirka & Bartolucci produced a report for the village earlier this year that supported the water rate of $4.33 per 1,000 gallons of water.
The August rate increase came on the heels of a ruling Judge R. Bruce Cozzens issued in Nassau County Supreme Court invalidating the first rate increase on procedural grounds. Cozzens ruled that the Williston Park board should have held a public hearing before imposing an April 2011 rate increase on East Williston to $3.83 per 1,000 gallons.
Village attorney James Bradley has filed an appeal to that decision and said he is currently working on the brief for that appeal.
Negotiations between village boards of the two villages had broken down prior to Williston Park imposing the 2011 rate increase. A second attempt at talks last summer also failed to resolve the dispute, with both sides mutually faulting the other side’s inflexibility.
“I believe we were correct the first time around. We’re right this time,” Ehrbar said.
Attempts to reach East Williston village attorney Jeffrey Blinkoff for comment on the most recent lawsuit were unavailing.
Meanwhile, Tanner has said East Williston is seeking alternative water sources.
At an October East Williston board meeting, Tanner said he has contacted Mineola, Albertson and Old Westbury about each one supplying a portion of East Williston’s water needs.
