Election Day Suffolk County Residents Will Vote On Prop 2 For Clean Water

Election day is Tuesday, and Suffolk County residents will vote on Proposition 2 for the clean water systems.

By JOSEPH D’AGOSTINO 

Suffolk County voters have a decision to make regarding their drinking water, rivers, streams, lakes, bays, and the ocean with Proposition 2 on this Tuesday’s election ballot.

Residents have outdated septic infrastructure that allows nitrogen pollution to seep into our aquifers, which are underground layers of rock or sediment containing groundwater.  Prop 2 will allow households to replace their current system with a safer, updated technology.         

If it passes, county sales tax will increase from 8.625% to 8.75%.  According to voteyesprop2.com, a water fund will be created, financed by the ⅛ of a penny increased by the sales tax.  This fund could be only used to improve water quality in Suffolk County and will make updating septic systems affordable to residents and businesses.    

The Nature Conservancy Senior Policy Advisor Kevin McDonald said that about 1,000 Suffolk County units a year are eligible to receive rebates to help update the new technology. If there are about 360,000 households in Suffolk County, replacing all the units would take 360 years. If Prop 2 passes, the 1,000 units could increase to about 15,000 units a year.

The one misconception with Prop 2 is that if it passes, everyone needs to replace their current septic system. The Long Island Pine Barrens Society’s Nina Leonhardt, the Acting Executive Director, said you replace the septic system when it fails. If you see that everything is working correctly, you wait, and there is no need to replace it. Once you notice it is failing, complete the paperwork online, and you’ll get the grant.

Once you are determined to be eligible for the new septic system and awarded the grant, you have a choice of equipment to install. The two popular options are FujiClean USA and Hydro-Action.  

Depending on your property’s topology and steepness, the installation cost could be upwards of $20,000 to $25,000.  McDonald said most grants can cover a good percentage of the price tag.  “There’s additional grant support for people who are low- and middle-income, which can neutralize the additional out-of-pocket costs.”

The tax increase would only cost consumers 12.5 cents for every $100 spent. Not only will the residents of Suffolk County contribute to the fund, but Leonardt made a great point by saying that anyone who comes for vacation or visits will have to pay the sales tax.  

Speros Vartelatos, a high school math teacher who lives in Selden, would like to know what happens to the fund when all the homes and businesses in Suffolk County have the new septic system.  Where does the money left over in the water fund go, and does the sales tax stay 8.75%?  “There needs to be transparency that this program can’t be funded more with the current sales tax,” Vartelatos said.  

“This is not a surprise,” McDonald said.  It has been public knowledge for about ten years, and it has been well-documented that there is a water quality problem.  The nitrogen from the septic system is the problem, and there needs to be a septic movement so we can reclaim our water.