A proposal to change Fredonia’s water and sewer rates will get a public hearing.

The village Board of Trustees voted Monday to set the hearing, for 6 p.m. Aug. 22, before their next meeting. The hearing is necessary because Trustee James Lynden’s proposal would change rates that are codified in local laws.

Lynden proposes to remove a user fee that all Fredonia water and sewer customers pay. Since he feels that residential, low-volume users have unfairly shouldered the tax burden for years, Lynden wants to lower their rates. His proposal would result in bill increases for large-volume quarterly users, and they would have separate billing rates.

On Monday, Lynden used his report time to push back against the notion that Fredonia’s water rates had a role in Carriage House, formerly known as Red Wing, shutting down.

He referred to an April 9, 2014, OBSERVER article in which former Red Wing President Doug Manly blamed transportation logistics concerns, changing business trends, and a lower population in the Northeast for the shutdown. Fredonia’s water system was not mentioned in the story.

“As a municipality, we work with businesses, but we can’t guarantee they’re going to stay here,” he said. “We’d like to provide fair rates for all but also provide a quality water service.”

A little earlier, Fredonia resident Robert Scott referred to the rate change debate during the public comments portion of the meeting.

He said everyone should have to pay for the water system’s fixed costs, and that other utilities such as phone and gas service make customers pay user fees.

“Maybe this has come up because of a phenomenon known as a snowbird,” he said. “Snowbird says, ‘All right, Thanksgiving’s over, I’ve seen my family, I’m going to pack up and go to Florida, I’m going to shut off my water so no pipes break… and I’ll come back in April. So they’re going to have a whole quarter, possibly even two, where they’re not going to use any water.

“And no charge, then, if it’s a variable rate! They should still have to help pay for the water lines, the street cleaning. Because you’re still sending a meter reader out. If there’s no change in the billing, I’m assuming the cost of sending that guy out there.”

Scott added that since the plan would cause Fredonia Central School’s water rate to rise, any savings on the water would probably get eaten up by higher school taxes.

“We’re all part of a community. I think doing away with the basic charge and going to variable does away with that, because it’s shifting costs to other people,” he said.