Water and sewer rate hikes, along with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) law, are the subject of Sept. 2 public hearings set by the Fredonia Board of Trustees.

The trustees set the hearings to happen before their next scheduled regular meeting. They did this earlier this week at their most recent meeting.

The village attempted to enact the water and sewer rate hikes in its 2025-26 budget without a public hearing on them. That’s not legal and Village Hall got called out on it — but not before apparently trying to put the rate hikes on some customers’ bills. Those people are supposed to get credits on their next bills.

The Fredonia sewer rate is supposed to go up a dollar, to $8 per 1,000 gallons used from $7. The water rate is set for a 60-cent hike, to $7.60 per 1,000 gallons used from $7.

As for the BESS law, it’s the culmination of many months of effort by the Fredonia Planning Board. Concerns about catastrophic fires have driven opposition in the community to placement of the large-scale battery “farms.”

Because it’s a proposed new law, the Board of Trustees must ratify it. Here’s a few of the key provisions of the law.

— Average noise level from the battery arrays is not supposed to exceed an average of 60 “weighted decibels” per hour, as measured at the nearest occupied building. (A weighted decibel is a measurement of how the human ear perceives sound.)

— Battery arrays inactive for six months must be removed at the owner’s expense. The site is supposed to be restored to natural condition within six months of the battery equipment’s removal.

— Battery systems are supposed to be set back at least 250 feet from the nearest property line. They need to be enclosed with secure fencing to prevent unauthorized access, and are to be screened from adjacent properties with vegetation or other design features.