By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Village residents who were charged late fees due to December water bills not being delivered on time will be stuck with the extra charge.

On Tuesday, the Village Board of Trustees took no action on a resolution put forward by Trustee Timothy Ahlfeld.

His motion would “credit customers charged with late fees on their December water bills associated with errors in delivery,” he said. “I expect this would be on their February bill.”

None of the other board members offered a second.

“Unfortunately existing law tied our hands,” Trustee Matt Lebire said.

Mayor Tim Currier said he had asked the state Comptroller’s Office and the village attorney if there was any way at all the law would allow a municipality to offer refunds on a water bill late fee.

“There is no new information that changes anything,” Currier said.

“I agree with Tim, I think it’s an awful slap in the face. I blame it on the Post Office. It’s ridiculous,” Trustee Albert Deshaies said.

“I think it’s safe to say we all agree,” Currier said.

Ahlfeld said he read the law and thinks they have some wiggle room in their interpretation.

“It’s all in the interpretation. I pointed out seven or eight different ways it could be interpreted and was interpreted,” he said. “It would be hard to expect a resident to pay a bill when they don’t know how much they have to pay.”