Water and Sewer Rate Increases Projected

By Meredith McCulloch

During the week of June 27, the Selectmen and the Finance Committee learned of possible water and sewer rate increases, and potential need for a reserve fund transfer to pay FY15 overruns.

At the Selectmen’s meeting Roy Sorenson, Director of Public Works, and Victor Garofalo, Finance Director, said they may make a reserve fund request of $312,329 for FY15 for water costs. (The reserve fund is an account funded each year that can be used with Finance Committee approval to cover unanticipated expenses. Traditionally the committee votes on such requests at the close of the fiscal year. )

Sorenson listed three causes for the higher than budgeted costs this fiscal year:

Higher than normal irrigation usage in the months of May and June
Annual flushing
All three wells are down and have been down all year.

A final recommendation on FY16 rates will be made to the Selectmen on July 6. The current projections are for a 20.1 percent increase in water rates and an 8.3 percent increase in sewer rates, for a combined water/sewer increase of 12.7 percent.
Additional costs per household would average $74.50 for water and $52.00 for sewer. The rate for separately metered irrigation water use would remain the same.

The source of 85-90 percent of water for the Town is the MWRA (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority) piped and billed through Lexington. The remainder is normally from the Shawsheen Road wellfield, which is currently not in operation. All sewage is processed by MWRA.

Town policy is that water and sewer rates cover all the costs of the system. If water is purchased by the town and not billed to the end user, the town must pay the difference. Sorenson said that analysis shows that not all of the water purchased through Lexington is being billed. Some decrease is normal, but the difference is higher than anticipated, so water meters, especially in the Industrial/Commercial accounts are being checked for accuracy. With bi-annual billing, total payments from end users won’t be available for several months.

For more information about the water system and the testing of water quality, see:
https://www.bedfordma.gov/sites/bedfordma/files/u133/fy15drinkingwater2.pdf