Thursday, October 1, 2026
Pushback against rate increases by Liberty New York Water is continuing, with North Shore residents voicing concerns. Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino publicly declared his opposition to the rate increases on June 24, calling on state regulators to reject Liberty’s proposal.
“We are vehemently opposed to any rate hike for customers of Liberty Utilities, who have already been overburdened and overcharged for this service for far too long,” Saladino said in a news release. “Residents are already overwhelmed by increases in the cost of living for daily necessities like groceries, housing and energy costs, and should not be further burdened by the inequity caused by a private, for-profit water supplier.”
Liberty filed that request with the New York Public Service Commission on May 29. According to the filing, Liberty is seeking to increase revenue by 30.14 percent in a service area that includes the Sea Cliff and Merrick water systems.
The proposed rate increase for the average residential customer in the Sea Cliff system, who uses 8,000 gallons of water per month, is $26.89, according to Liberty. The Sea Cliff system serves roughly 13,000 residents of the Village as well as parts of Glenwood Landing, Glen Head, Glen Cove, Old Brookville and Roslyn Harbor.
Area residents have been advocating for public water for more than a decade. Glen Head resident Agatha Nadel, who has lived in the hamlet most of her life, has been part of the fight for a dozen years.
“I will never forget,” Nadel said, “my grandmother crying when she would open a bill and say, ‘I don’t understand’ — it was just the two of us, and when my grandfather was alive, the three of us — ‘why these water bills are so high.’” Nadel noted that her family was served by the Roslyn Water District, in Greenvale, at the time.
Nadel has called on the state, and local municipalities, like the towns of Oyster Bay and Hempstead, to do more to municipalize water on the North Shore. She said she wants the state to ensure that the North gets affordable, public water and for local governments to support the public takeover.
“This charade,” Nadel said, “has gone on long enough.”
The Water Authority of the North Shore was created by statute in February 2022, and began operations that May. It had the authority to make rules and regulations for the conservation, preservation and protection of its water supply. Its board is made up of representatives of the Village of Sea Cliff, the Town of Oyster Bay, the City of Glen Cove and the villages of Old Brookville and Roslyn Harbor.
Since its creation, the authority’s mission has been to explore the acquisition of the privately held water supply system on Nassau County’s North Shore. The authority is currently making its way through the state Public Service Commission’s eight-step process to municipalize water service and is on the fifth step, the negotiation of commercial terms. That includes negotiating terms for acquiring a portion of New York American Water’s operations, which were acquired by Liberty in 2022.
“If this wasn’t such a serious problem, at this point it would be laughable,” Nadel said. “But the point is, at this point it is honestly an embarrassment that we don’t have this water.”
She also credited the state lawmakers who in 2020 introduced and later passed legislation to create the Water Authority of the North Shore for their work.
Liberty’s rate request also includes proposed projects. Among them are iron-removal treatment; the mitigation of PFAS, or so-called “forever chemicals”; the replacement of lead service lines; and water main replacements. Other proposals include eliminating electronic payment fees and expanding forgiveness of outstanding payments to all eligible customers instead of just income-eligible ones.
“We understand the importance of balancing system safety and reliability with customer affordability,” Deborah Franco, president of Liberty New York Water, said in a news release. “Our proposed investments represent what is necessary to maintain and improve our system, and we remain committed to managing expenses responsibly while continuing to provide safe, reliable services.”
Liberty’s proposed increases remain subject to review and approval by the Public Service Commission. The commission is accepting public comments, and will hold a public hearing before making a final decision.
