The Throop supervisor's excitement of having a water contract for the first time in half a century quickly turned to ire as he watched two Auburn city councilors vote against a deal he believed was fair.

Bill Tarby approached the city about getting a contract for city-owned water years ago. Over the past couple months, the city and the town reached an agreement, which the council narrowly passed Thursday.

Councilors David Dempsey, Thomas McNabb and William Graney gave the contract a thumbs up, while Mayor Timothy Lattimore and councilor Matt Smith opposed the deal that requires Throop to pay 15 percent plus the city rate per 100 cubic feet.

Tarby was surprised the two voted to continue a situation he considers exploits the residents of Throop.

“Why are we paying more? It's the same water the city is selling to other people,” Tarby said.

Before the contract, town residents were paying $2.56 per 100 cubic feet. He predicted the new settlement will bring it down to about $1.65. Sennett pays the city $1.52 for 100 cubic feet of water.

“We were getting killed here, and we said, ‘Hey, wait a minute.' The supervisor before me wasn't interested in a contract so the city charged whatever they wanted,” Tarby said.

Dempsey said he, too, was surprised when the two men said no to the measure, stating Comptroller Lisa Green's announcement of losing money as the reason.

“(Green) was part of the (earlier) conversations and made us all aware of the situation in making the deal,” Dempsey said. He added that there was no vocal opposition at that time.

Green has discussed this with the council in executive session several months ago, she said.

“I told them that the town was paying one and three quarters more than the city rate, so any agreement is going to lower the revenue,” Green said.

Lattimore said he made his opposition to the contract known. The agreement was low and didn't make up for the wear and tear of the city's water treatment plant and distribution system, he said. That unseen expense should be reflected in the towns' bills so the city residents aren't the only ones paying for maintenance and upgrades, he said.

“Over the years, we put a tremendous amount of infrastructure ... at a cost to the city and I don't know if we're truly getting our cost back,” Lattimore said.

Although the contract will cause an estimated $20,000 loss in revenues for the city, Green didn't make a recommendation to turn it down.

“We didn't have much of a choice. You can't just leave one township without a contract when everyone else had one,” Dempsey said. Treating the towns equally is especially important as the council has been working to get uniform water rates for all the municipalities, he said.

“In the meantime, I stopped paying the water bill. We're getting ripped off,” Tarby said.

But that didn't sit well with Lattimore.

“I don't feel that discounting a two-year-old bill when we don't have any surplus in our (water fund) is good practice,” he said. He added that good customers who are on time usually deserve the deals.

Smith earlier said his priority is to city residents over those of Throop.

Tarby took the role of supervisor four years ago, and made negotiating a water contract one of his priorities in that time.

He first approached former City Manager John Salomone.

“He was playing hardball because he was trying to get land next to the city dump,” Tarby said. Throop owns 60 acres bordering the city landfill, where Salomone was pushing an expansion.

Tarby said Salomone promised the town a beneficial water agreement if they sold some of the property.

“The residents were adamant about not giving away any land. That was their No. 1 issue,” Tarby said.

Throop's previous administration sold land 12 years ago in exchange for a new water main on York Street to provide residents with better pressure, he said.

In the past few months, negotiations sparked again. He finally reached a compromise with Interim City Manager Michael Long and former Corporation Counsel Thomas Leone. During negotiations, Lattimore told him the town should have a contract to get the city one step closer to having uniform rates for all the municipalities that purchase water, Tarby said.

That's why he was surprised to see Lattimore vote the agreement down when he was watching the council meeting on public television, he said.

“Why are we getting screwed,” Tarby asked. “When we talked about it, they were all for it.”

Lattimore agreed he encouraged Tarby to seek a contract, but as part of a master contract that would have all the municipalities at the same rate.

Other municipalities were balking at the 15 percent, but Tarby was happy to have the decrease and what he considers a fair rate, Tarby said. He, like other residents he's heard from, is glad it's settled.

“It's just politics with them,” Tarby said. “The town hasn't done anything wrong. We've paid more than we should have.”

Staff writer Jessica Soule can be contacted at 253-5311 ext 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net