Matthew Zarbo discusses options for Mayville’s water system. The price tag is now $9.4 million. P-J photo by Gregory Bacon

MAYVILLE — Cost to repair the village’s water system continues to go up.

During a presentation at the June Mayville Village Board meeting, Matthew Zarbo with Barton & Loguidice said the overall project is expected to cost $9,418,000.

In February, the cost of the project was estimated to cost $7.6 million.

Zarbo said part of the reason the cost has increased is because before they were looking to either find a new well or put one of its unused wells back into commission by installing a filtration system. This new estimate includes doing both options at once.

The village had three wells in use before the county Health Department issued a “do not drink” order in 2020, due to traces of perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) discovered in all three wells. The village had a fourth well that was drilled but not connected to the village water system. After the do not drink order was issued, the village quickly connected it, but it can’t supply enough water year-round.

Two of the infected wells now have a filtering system. One well has been completely decommissioned and one is currently not in use.

Zarbo agreed that the costs may seem high, but feels this is something that can be addressed through additional funding options. “When we go through the funding available, the user costs aren’t greatly impacted and there is some things the board has to decide how they want to raise this additional revenue,” he said.

Zarbo said he’s hopeful that prices of materials will decrease by the time construction actually takes place, but he’s budgeting the project as if the work were to begin with higher prices.

Mayville has already been awarded a $2 million federal grant for the project. He said he believes the village will be eligible for additional grants and a 0% loan to cover the balance. If that happens, Mayville will need to raise an additional $80,000 a year.

If that’s the case, Zarbo said Mayville can either charge all users the same base charge or it can assess larger users a higher base charge. “This is extremely common and is done in almost every new district, where the larger users pay a larger share of capital debt,” he said.

Some of the larger users include the Chautauqua County Jail, Chautauqua Lake School District, Chautauqua Regional Properties, Chautauqua County Buildings and Grounds, Webb’s Restaurant, Edward C. Jones Enterprises LLC which owns the car wash, Lakeview Hotel, Mayville Senior Apartments, Webb’s Year Round Resort, New York State Department of Transportation, Boy Scouts of America and Tops.

Officials did not determine if they would have a flat rate for everyone or charge a higher amount for larger users. Zarbo recommended leaders discuss the options at a future workshop.

During the regular portion of the meeting, the board did authorize a bond resolution to start the process in getting a loan. Zarbo said the resolution does not force the board to spend any money right now, but is helpful for some of the grants they are seeking. “What it does is allows the board to sign contracts that they don’t have money to pay for, but it does not make the board have to sign contracts,” he said.