By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
9/3/09
The cost of sewer/water bills will rise about 2.9 percent this year for average users. The water rates stay the same while the sewer rates will rise 4.4 percent.
For the average household, that means the quarterly bill will jump $11.40 – from $397.08 to $408.48. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority defines an average household as a four-person home that consumes 3,000 cubic feet of water per quarter.
The Selectmen accepted the new rates Aug. 27. The rates will continue under a four-tier system, as they have for the past two years.
“This is the start of the third year of the tier system. The more you use, the more you pay. I think that’s a fair system,” Town Administrator Kevin Mearn said, adding that the tier system was adopted to encourage water-use conservation.
The Selectmen approved the rates unanimously, as recommended by Department of Public Works Director Joseph Lynch.
For the lowest-tier users (zero to 600 cubic feet per quarter), the total rate increase to the water/sewer bill will be about 2.4 percent; to the highest-tier users (6,000 or more cubic feet), it will be around 2.9 percent.
“It appears that this [fiscal year 2010] water and sewer rate structure is the most equitable of the adjustments, since it maintains Milton’s overall goals of having consumers who use less water pay less per unit, encouraging conservation and maintaining a substantial discount for fixed-income elderly consumers, who generally use less water,” Lynch wrote in his report to Selectmen.
The new rate includes a 4.4 percent jump in the sewer rate (from $4.99 to $5.21 per cubic foot) and no change in the $4.03 water rate – equaling about a 2.9 percent increase overall.
The rates were formulated by projecting future usage based on years of “consumption patterns,” Lynch explained. He said water usage has dipped slightly in recent years.
The rates are meant to match projected revenue with projected costs, he added.
“I feel pretty confident we can make the revenue projection with [the new rates],” Lynch said, saying there may be a need to make slight midyear adjustments if week-to-week recordings don’t match up.
According to Lynch’s report, the water enterprise is expected to cost $4.51 million and the sewer enterprise $6.56 million in FY10. With the new rates, the revenues are expected to be $4.59 million and $6.57 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, Lynch said MWRA rates are expected to increase significantly over the next three years – including by as much as 11 percent next year – meaning next year’s town rates may jump more dramatically.
“Through no fault of our own, we’re going to have to ask ratepayers to pay more,” Selectmen Chair John Shields said.
The town purchases around 1 billion gallons of water annually from the MWRA. The water comes from Quabbin Reservoir, 65 miles west of Boston, and Wachusett Reservoir, 35 miles west of Boston. The reservoirs provide about 250 million gallons of water each day.
The town also pays the MWRA to treat and dispose of the town’s sewage.