In many instances, customers receive refunds or price reductions for purchases or services that they believe are not up to standards. It happens when items are returned at a store or when purchasing an item off a restaurant menu.

Though that customer may not always be right, business does its best to make sure the patron is satisfied. That is definitely not how it works in government.

Despite subpar water – for the sixth time in 30 months for users — there is no discount, rebate or refund. Customers are still paying the full price for water that needs to be boiled before being consumed during this most recent boil-water order.

What a ripoff.

In fact, over the years, the cost for poorly produced water has gone up consistently in the village due to fewer users. Adding to the dilemma is the fighting over what source should be used in the future? The antiquated reservoir and treatment plant or buying from the city of Dunkirk.

All these problems face the current board. However, as we have noted in the past, this board is dealing with a lack of decisiveness in the past. Water had been a crisis for decades and nothing was done. Even the largest private employer in Carriage House left in 2015, in part due to unreliable water.

Yet here we are in 2025 in a village that is struggling financially and with a segment that wants to live in the past. Drinking water from our faucets should not be a luxury to paying users in the 21st century. In most other communities, that is just expected.