On April 20, after 18 months of deliberations, the Incorporated Village of Saltaire entered into a 40-year lease with the Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) to manage and operate its public water infrastructure. The motion was unanimously adopted by the Saltaire Village Board of Trustees, and the agreement becomes effective June 1.
“It has been a long-held goal of the Village to convert the billing of the Saltaire Water System from a flat annual fee to metered service, which would better match billing charges to actual consumption, as well as significantly increase water conservation efforts through better real-time information management of usage and far superior expedited leak identification and control, and better adhere to the metering requirement of covering regulations,” reads the verbiage of the adopted resolution.
It further underscored the growing difficulty of operating a standalone municipal water service in today’s regulatory climate.
The SCWA currently manages the water supply for most hamlets on Fire Island, including Kismet, Fair Harbor, and Dunewood—all in close proximity to Saltaire.
Under this agreement, Saltaire will retain ownership of the facilities, and village residents will become SCWA bill-paying customers. The fees paid will help fund capital improvements over time.
SCWA is not a branch or department of the Suffolk County government. It is an independent, nonprofit public-benefit corporation established under the Public Authorities Law of the State of New York. It has the authority to set rates and fees and to bill its clients as a utility, but not to levy taxes. However, the Suffolk County Legislature appoints its five-member governing board.
In an April 24 social media post, SCWA stated that this partnership will “bring more reliable water service to the community through a new 40-year agreement,” further stating that with system upgrades, new water meters, and connections to neighboring systems, Saltaire’s water infrastructure will now operate as one seamless network—with built-in backup and 24/7 support.
Village officials echoed that this move will make Saltaire more physically and financially resilient, as they forecast that the average village resident’s water bills will go down slightly. The integrated system provides support in the event of a system failure and access to external resources in the case of catastrophic events.
Saltaire is the oldest incorporated village on Fire Island and will celebrate its 110th anniversary in 2027. However, the autonomy of its water service will now become a thing of the past. The last independent water systems remaining on Fire Island are Ocean Beach Village and the community of Seaview.
