A.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a sewage disposal benefit area within the Village of Hammondsport. The benefit area would only serve a portion of the Village. This benefit area is more particularly delineated on a map prepared by Fagan Engineers dated July 2018, which this chapter shall hereinafter incorporate by reference. The properties to be served by the benefit area are also described in § 95A-3 hereof, by reference to their tax map numbers and by the names of the property owners as of June 1, 2018.
B.
The Board of Trustees of the Village finds that a municipal sewage disposal system is in the best interest of the community and will promote the health, safety, and general welfare of its citizens.
C.
The Village is now served by a patchwork of individual private disposal systems consisting generally of septic tanks and leach fields. The Village Board finds that many of these systems have either failed, or upon inspection, do not meet current state or local standards. These systems must be upgraded, repaired, or replaced, often resulting in considerable expense to the owners. In addition, although no definitive scientific data exist, the Village Board has heard reports that failing private disposal systems in the business district could force closure of those businesses or a dramatic reduction in the number of patrons served, which could result in the closure of those businesses. These closures could result in falling real property values in the community.
D.
Furthermore, the Village Board has been advised that existing local business are reluctant to expand their operations and outside businesses are hesitant to locate within the Village because of the lack of a municipal sewer system. These factors have a deleterious effect upon local employment and upon the Village's ability to expand its property tax base.
E.
Therefore, in order to mitigate the costs of repairs to individual property owners, the potential for the pollution of natural resources, and to promote and expand business activities and the overall property tax base, the Village Board finds that a municipal sewage disposal system is in the best interest of the citizens of the Village of Hammondsport.
F.
The Village Board has been advised that the provisions of Article 14 of the New York State Village Law seems to require that a sewer system constructed within the Village serve the entire community, not just a portion thereof.
G.
Nevertheless, the Board hereby chooses to use the authority granted to it by Section 10(l)(ii)(e)(2) and (3) of the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law to enact this chapter (i) to provide for a sewer system which will serve only a portion of the Village, thus overriding the apparent effect of Article 14 of the Village Law, and (ii) to provide for assessing the cost of the establishment, construction, operation, and maintenance of such sewer system primarily against the properties benefitted thereby. The Village Board believes that Article 14 of the Village Law does not pre-empt it from doing so and in support of that belief relies upon a number of opinions from the New York State Comptroller's Office, namely Informal Opinions Nos. 80-306; 80-533; 80-542; and 85-42.