This Is Not Just About Taxes: The Numbers Behind Fallsburg's Water Capacity

Dear Friends and Neighbors

At the August 27th Town Board meeting, Tax Assessor Winnie Foertsch explained how her office tracks construction and improvements throughout Fallsburg. It sounded like a routine assessment report. It wasn’t. Foertsch explained that her office receives building permit information and that its data collector, Wesley, goes into the field to take measurements and photographs to determine the percentage of completion of construction. If he sees something that appears to have been built without a permit, the department investigates. She also explained that the Assessor’s Office and Building Department are supposed to share information. She even gave the Board an example of a condominium documented as having four bedrooms when units actually contain six. She explained that the change has to be communicated to the County. That raises a much bigger question for Fallsburg.

What happens when the information entering the system is wrong?
If a developer or property owner does not accurately disclose what is being built or if the Building Department does not recognize that construction differs from what was approved, the incorrect information can travel far beyond the Building Department.
It can affect the Assessor’s records, Planning Board information and engineering calculations. And that can directly affect water and wastewater.

Fallsburg’s own Town Code § 135-10 establishes development fees using gallons-per-day calculations. For a single-family residence or apartment, the Town’s table uses 110 gallons per day for each bedroom. Even more significantly, § 135-10(D) expressly reserves the Town’s right to collect additional fees if additional homes or bedrooms are built beyond those approved.  This means an unreported bedroom is much more than an assessment issue. It means additional projected water demand, additional wastewater demand and additional development fees owed to the Town.

The Town’s own § 135-8 explains why these fees exist: Fallsburg recognized that increased development increases demand on its water supply and wastewater systems and can require expansion, repair and maintenance of those systems.  So when a development is approved using one number of bedrooms and more bedrooms are ultimately constructed, we should be asking:
1. Was the water demand calculation recalculated?
2. Was the wastewater calculation recalculated?
3. Were additional development fees assessed?
4. And most importantly, does Fallsburg have a reliable system for making sure the information used in those calculations reflects what was actually built?
The Assessor is an important safeguard but cannot fix information that never reaches her office.

New York Real Property Tax Law § 500(1) requires every town assessor to maintain an inventory of all real property and update it annually, including its physical characteristics. Foertsch’s explanation shows how Fallsburg attempts to do that: permits come from the Building Department, Wesley checks properties in the field, photographs and measurements are taken, and discrepancies are supposed to be communicated between departments. But that system has a vulnerability. If the Building Department is given incomplete or inaccurate information or if construction occurs without the proper permit, the Assessor cannot assess what the Town does not know exists. That is why Fallsburg needs an independent verification system.

After construction, the Town should have a documented process to verify that what was approved, what was permitted and what was actually built are consistent including the number of bedrooms and any finished living space. Where the numbers don’t match, the appropriate departments should be notified and the water, sewer and development fee calculations reviewed. Water meter readings could provide another useful warning mechanism. They cannot prove how many bedrooms a home contains, because water consumption varies by household. But unusual or sustained consumption could identify properties deserving further review. Fallsburg already bills municipal water customers based on measured usage under Town Code § 135-13.  

This is why the Building Department matters so much. 

This concerns the integrity of the information flowing through the Town. What was approved?  What was permitted? What was actually built? What does the Assessor’s inventory show?  What number of bedrooms was used in the water and wastewater calculations? And when those numbers change, who is responsible for making sure the calculations and fees change with them? Fallsburg’s own code already recognizes the connection between development, bedrooms, gallons per day and the cost of providing water and wastewater infrastructure. So this is not just a tax-assessment question. 

This is a development question, a revenue question, a water capacity question and ultimately a public resource question.

The Town does not need another layer of paperwork. It needs a reliable chain of information from the moment a development is proposed through the moment it is completed: 

approved plans → permits → actual construction → independent verification → assessment → water/sewer calculations → correct development fees.

If the numbers entering that chain are wrong, every calculation built upon them can be wrong. Fallsburg needs to know what was approved, what was built, what was reported and whether the Town’s water calculations and fees reflect reality. Because when we are already questioning how much water capacity Fallsburg has, getting the number of bedrooms right is not a tax issue. It is a fundamental necessity.

Fallsburg's Future is a community network of concerned Fallsburg residents established in January 2016. Its Mission is to help guide the urban development of the town of Fallsburg and its five hamlets, to promote its sustainable economic development, protect the fragile beauty of its natural habitats and enhance the opportunities and quality of life for all its residents and visitors. We hope to curb the suburban sprawl that is threatening to overwhelm the town’s physical infrastructure and destroy the natural beauty that the area depends on for its future development. See us on Facebook and our website Fallsburgsfuture.com.