The Village of Mineola Board of Trustees adopted three amendments to the village’s municipal code Wednesday to aid the village water department and raise residents’ taxes.

The approved amendments will raise water rates by 5% beginning June 1, 2024, 5.5% beginning June 1, 2025 and 6% beginning June 1, 2026, said Thomas Rini, Mineola’s superintendent of public works.

The total estimated cost of the projects is $34,970,788, Rini said.

“What we can’t lose sight of in all of this is that the most important thing is for us to deliver clean water to our residents and you can’t put a price tag on that,” said Mayor Paul Pereira.

The first code amendment makes anyone who turns on the village water service for use without permission from the village liable for costs and penalties.

This will have little to no impact on the average Mineola resident, explained Pereira, and the amendment is meant to mitigate rare rule-breaking from a contractor or builder who takes advantage of the village water service.

The third code amendment places the responsibility of water pipe costs onto the business doing work in the village, which Pereira said will also not have much of an impact on town residents.

The second amendment the board approved, which raised water rates and fees, will impact resident taxes the most.

“Many of our resident ratepayers may not be aware, [but] the village’s water division is not like any of our neighboring water districts,” said Rini. “Unlike [other] districts … the [Mineola] village’s water division does not have the ability or authority to recommend or levy taxes.”

This required the village board to approve the amendments.

A major topic of discussion was the construction of new contaminate-detecting facilities at multiple water wells around the village.

These facilities are large undertakings.

The first phase of the construction project for one of these treatment systems is expected to be completed by the end of May and the facility should be operational by late June.

The second phase of the project would be the construction of a building around the treatment system. That project is slated to go to public bid and is estimated to cost $9,612,000, Rini said.

Multiple water well treatment facilities are being proposed, which explains the high price tag. Pereira says that the hike in water rates is not meant to cover the $34,970,788 in water projects, though.

“These water rates and fees, obviously, are not being raised to try to pay down the $34,970,788. We would never get there with fees,” said Pereira. “But the cost of chemicals, the cost of electricity, the cost of doing business. Obviously, everything has gone up.”

Rini acknowledged the high expenses and said the public works department has been working to mitigate costs.

So far, the village has been awarded multiple New York State Water Infrastructure Improvement grants and has amassed a total of $15,010,000 in funding.

Pereira said that while rate increases of 5% and 6% may seem extreme, residents should put into perspective that the Village of Mineola gets “a lot of bang for our buck when it comes to our water service” when compared to nearby villages.

“Trust me, I have a teenage daughter and a teenage son. And lots of laundry and long showers, so I am definitely above the average of a single-family home,” said Pereira. “And these [water rate increases] would come out to about $25 a year increase for me. For most people, it would certainly be less than that.”