The Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act – Proposition 2

On election day this year, Suffolk County residents overwhelmingly approved a ballot proposition that will increase the countywide sales tax to fund a project aimed at making water cleaner and upgrading Suffolk County’s sewer systems. Proposition 2 provides for a sales tax increase from 8.625% to 8.75%, a growth of 0.125% which will create a fund to clean up Suffolk’s waterways and drinking water by expanding public sewers and providing grants to homeowners to replace polluting cesspools. (Suffolk voters approve a new tax for better water, sewer systems – Newsday)

The passage of Proposition 2 is viewed as crucial to Suffolk County’s long-term plan to expand and upgrade its aging wastewater infrastructure and establish a new, and long-term funding source for wastewater improvement projects. This is an initiative that is crucial to providing support for local investment in economic development projects for Suffolk County’s communities.

The Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act was signed into law by County Executive Ed Romaine and approved by the Suffolk County Legislature and New York State earlier this year. However, the law’s enactment was contingent on voter approval. Proposition 2 passed with more than 71 percent of the vote. The funding mechanism goes into effect in March 2025 and is expected to generate an estimated $49 million in additional revenues that will be available for use in 2026. The Act is projected to generate an estimated $3 billion in clean water infrastructure funds through 2060 with an even distribution towards sewer projects and Innovative and Alternative On-Site Wastewater Treatment Systems (I/A Systems).

The new measure will provide a stable revenue source for the Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan, a plan initially adopted by the legislature in 2020 which is intended to reverse decades of nitrogen pollution and protect the aquifer and other water sources. The long-term plan adopted by the legislature seeks to significantly reduce reliance on cesspools and septic system by using a hybrid approach that relies on the connection of parcels to sewers where feasible and the replacement of cesspools and septic systems with I/A Systems where sewers are not feasible.

Additionally, the new funds will be used to fund new sewer projects throughout Suffolk County. The legislature found that the lack of countywide wastewater infrastructure has been widely recognized as a significant obstacle to sustainable economic growth, contributing to stagnation and constrained property values in many downtown business districts. The group found the need for a Suffolk County long term wastewater infrastructure plan is a high priority action.  For more, the legislative resolution can be found here: https://www.scnylegislature.us/DocumentCenter/View/95808/Introductory-Resolution-1461-24-PDF