Why Fallsburg Residents Shouldn't Be Left Holding the Bill
Dear Friends
Fallsburg is in the midst of a serious infrastructure crisis. Our water and sewer systems are strained beyond capacity, our roads and public services are under pressure, and the bills for upgrades are skyrocketing into millions of dollars. Yet somehow, the people who’ve built this town, who live here year-round, who pay their taxes and play by the rules, are the ones being told they must foot the bill.
Let’s be clear: the reason we’re facing this fiscal emergency is because of unchecked development. High-density housing projects, massive seasonal colonies, and oversized multi-family homes have been allowed to spread across Fallsburg without any meaningful long-term financial planning. The infrastructure costs we now face are not simply about aging pipes; they’re about expansion, because our systems were never built to support this kind of population surge.
Who’s Causing the Costs?
When the South Fallsburg Wastewater Treatment Plant is expanded from 3.3 million to 4.5 million gallons per day, that’s not being done to help the residents who’ve lived here for generations. It’s being done because developers keep coming — building homes designed for very large families, with bunk beds lining the walls, sometimes eight to ten people in a single house.
The town still uses outdated calculations based on a “standard family size” — around 300 gallons of wastewater per day — to assess sewer use. That might work for a small household. But it doesn’t work when homes are regularly housing double or triple that number of people. And it certainly doesn’t work when developers are deliberately exploiting these outdated formulas to build more, use more, and pay less.
What Are Residents Paying?
Currently, the average single-family home pays about $650 per year in sewer taxes. Once the infrastructure expansion is complete, that will jump to over $1,228 — and higher for homes assigned more sewer benefit units. Some residents are already assessed at 16 units, meaning they’ll pay more than $1,300 per year. This might be manageable in a wealthy suburb — but Fallsburg isn’t one. We are a rural, working-class town where many people live on fixed incomes.
On top of that, Fallsburg has roughly 40% tax-exempt properties. That’s almost half the town not contributing to the local tax base, including many of the large-scale seasonal developments driving up the infrastructure demands in the first place. So again, who’s going to pay? It’s us — the residents who live here full-time.
Developers Are Not Paying Their Fair Share
The town’s current water and sewer connection fees are laughably low. For example, sewer hook-ups are charged at a rate of just $2.81 per gallon per day. That’s less than $900 per unit. Yet many of these units easily use 600–800 gallons per day—sometimes more. Even at today’s rates, the connection fee should be two or three times higher. If a development is being built outside an existing sewer district, those fees should climb closer to $13,000 per unit. Anything less is a gift to developers at the expense of taxpayers.
This needs to stop.
If developers want to build, they must be required to pay for the true cost of the infrastructure they’re depending on — not only up front, but long term. That means:
Significantly increased connection fees based on actual water and sewer usage.
Tiered fee structures for larger homes and higher-occupancy developments.
Development impact fees that account for the wear and tear on roads, schools, utilities, and emergency services.
Mandatory capital escrow accounts — paid by developers before permits are issued — to help fund future repairs.
A Culture of Rule-Breaking — With No Real Consequences
Even more infuriating is the blatant disregard for building codes by many of these developers. It has become common practice in Fallsburg for construction to begin without permits. In these cases, the Code Enforcement Officer issues a Stop Work Order. But what happens next? A few days pass, and the work resumes — as if nothing happened.
Take Rose Road as an example. After building illegally, the developer was fined $48,500. And yet, they continued to violate codes. No amount of court appearances seems to stop this behavior because the fines are too low, and enforcement is too lax.
This is why we need a change in town law. I propose the following penalty structure:
First Stop Work Order: $500 fine (doubled if no permit exists)
Second violation (within 30 days): $2,500 fine (again, doubled if unpermitted)
Third violation: $10,000 fine, a three-month construction freeze, and a three-month delay in any permit applications
Fallsburg must send a message: This town is not a free-for-all.
This Is About Fairness
None of this is about religion or politics. It’s about math. It’s about fairness. It’s about survival.
Fallsburg is our home. We should not be punished with soaring taxes and utility bills simply so outside developers can profit. We shouldn’t be subsidizing expansion that benefits absentee landlords. And we shouldn’t be asked to trust in calculations and formulas that don’t reflect reality.
We need truth — starting with a full, transparent audit of infrastructure costs. We need enforcement. And we need financial policies that protect the people who live here, not the people who just come to build.
Let’s fix the system — not on the backs of Fallsburg’s residents, but by making those who are causing the impact pay for it.
There will be an election for Town Board this fall. Several current members will be running for re-election. Fallsburg Future has decided to publish a weekly newsletter highlighting the issues that face the residents and the town. Each newsletter will highlight a particular topic of concern as well as an overview of a particular issue. We have had technical issues with our email service. It has been corrected and you are able to respond to this email.
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.