Wastewater Charge Based on 159 Percent of Landlord's Water Charge

The New York City Water Board assessed landlord a 100 percent surcharge for failing to install or to have the city install a water meter for its building. This resulted in a wastewater charge based on 159 percent of landlord's water charge. Landlord appealed the Water Board's decision, claiming it was unreasonable. The court ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed and lost. Although the applicable rate schedule simply stated that the wastewater charge for any building supplied with water from the city's water supply was 159 percent of the charges for water supplied to that building from the system and didn't mention the surcharge as one of the charges, the Water Board's inclusion of the surcharge as a water charge for purposes of calculating the wastewater charge was reasonable. One purpose of the surcharge was to make up for the underbilling that results from calculating water charges based on frontage instead of actual metered usage.

Haav 575 Realty Corp. v. New York City Water Board: NYLJ, 4/2/07, p. 30, col. 6 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Mazzarelli, JP, Williams, Gonzalez, Catterson, Kavanagh, JJ)