BILL NUMBER: S8473
SPONSOR: MARTINEZ
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the county law, the tax law and the Suffolk county water
quality restoration act, in relation to the use of moneys from the water
quality restoration fund
 
PURPOSE:
Amends the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act (Part TT of
Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2023)
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Amends Section 2 of Part TT of the Laws of 2023 constituting
the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act.
Section 2. Amends subdivision 11 of Section 256-b of the County Law
Section 3. Amends subdivision (d) of Section 1210-A of the Tax Law
Section 4. Provides that after January 1, 2030, the Suffolk County Exec-
utive shall prepare a report to the Governor and Legislature making
recommendations regarding any modifications to this act, if any, with
regard to the future distribution of revenue for water quality improve-
ment projects based upon the future demand for funding for wastewater
treatment projects and individual septic system projects.
Section 5. Sets forth an immediate effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The county of Suffolk ("county"), with a population of one million five
hundred thousand persons, has in excess of three hundred eighty thousand
existing onsite wastewater disposal systems, comprised mostly of
cesspools and septic systems, with two hundred nine thousand of these
onsite systems in environmentally sensitive areas which could benefit
from nitrogen-reducing technologies. The United States Environmental
Protection Agency recognizes Long Island as having a sole source aquifer
system for its drinking water supply.
Suffolk county has an imminent need to preserve this valuable water
resource by reducing the amount of nitrogen discharged into the ground
water by onsite systems. The full water cycle is impacted by increasing
quantities of nutrients, pathogens, pesticides, volatile organic contam-
inants and saltwater intrusion, as well as several emerging threats such
as prescription drugs and sea level rise.
The Suffolk county subwatersheds wastewater plan ("SWP"), certified by
the department of environmental conservation as a Nine Elements
Watershed (9E) plan, has documented the devastating effects of high
levels of nitrogen pollution, not only on the drinking water quality,
but also on coastal ecosystems, dissolved oxygen, water clarity,
eelgrass, wetlands, shellfish, coastal resilience and in triggering
harmful algal blooms. The SWP is a long-term plan to address the need
for wastewater treatment infrastructure throughout the county comprehen-
sively over a period of fifty years. The SWP delineates the source and
concentration of nitrogen loading in one hundred ninety-one subwat-
ersheds throughout the county and establishes nitrogen reduction goals
for each watershed.
For many areas of the county, installing or connecting sewers is not a
practical or cost-effective method of treating wastewater. For that
reason, the SWP prescribes a hybrid approach that relies on sewering
where feasible, and the replacement of cesspools and septic systems with
innovative/alternative onsite wastewater treatment systems. The consol-
idation of any or all of the twenty-seven county sewer districts, as
well as unsewered areas of the county, into a county-wide wastewater
management district, the establishment of a water quality restoration
fund, and a county board of trustees to monitor progress and the allo-
cation of resources consistent with the goals of the SWP would allow for
the implementation of a much needed integrated long-term wastewater
solution for the county through comprehensive planning and management to
improve water quality.
The purpose of this act is to create a water quality restoration fund to
finance projects for the protection, preservation, and rehabilitation of
groundwater and surface waters as recommended by the SWP. This act would
allow the funding of projects that will mitigate wastewater pollutants
utilizing the best available technology consistent with the SWP. The
water quality restoration fund would be financed with a dedicated and
recurring revenue source by the enactment of an additional sales and
compensating use tax at the rate of one-eighth of one percent until
2060. After deducting administrative and planning costs, fifty percent
of the revenue shall be dedicated to funding individual septic system
projects and fifty percent of the revenue shall be dedicated to funding
projects related to wastewater treatment facilities. Such tax would be
enacted pursuant to a mandatory referendum.
This act shall also provide Suffolk county with the authority to create
a county-wide wastewater management district through the consolidation
of existing county sewer districts with currently unsewered areas of the
county. A county-wide wastewater management district will provide an
integrated and efficient approach to managing wastewater services across
the county; allow the county to enhance and expand its incentive program
to property owners to upgrade their wastewater treatment systems; to
manage, monitor and enforce nitrogen reduction programs throughout the
county; complete additional sewer extension projects; improve the
economic wellbeing of communities; and provide an opportunity to consol-
idate and streamline the county's existing sewer district system and
normalize the inequitable rate structure that has long existed.
In addition, this act will extend the existing one-quarter of one
percent sales tax utilized to finance the county drinking water
protection program until 2060. Twenty-five percent of such tax is appor-
tioned for sewer taxpayer protection. Beginning with the first fiscal
year after the adoption of the water quality restoration fund, a portion
of the net collections of such tax apportioned for sewer taxpayer
protection shall be transferred to the water quality restoration fund,
established pursuant to subdivision 11 of section 256-b of the county
law. Such revenues shall be dedicated solely to funding individual
septic system projects as defined in such subdivision. In the first four
years, the portion to be transferred from funds apportioned for sewer
taxpayer protection to the water quality restoration fund shall be five
percent. In year five, the portion to be transferred from funds appor-
tioned for sewer taxpayer protection to the water quality restoration
fund shall be twenty percent. The amount to be transferred shall be
thirty percent in year six, forty percent in year seven, fifty percent
in year eight, and seventy percent in years nine and ten. The portion
transferred to the fund shall be fifty percent in all years thereafter.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: New Legislation
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S8473: 256-b county law, 256-b(11) county law, 1210-A tax law