Residents Vote In Favor of $320K Study to Takeover Water Company

The people of Hingham approved a $320,000 study on Monday night at Town Meeting to examine the cost of purchasing the town’s water infrastructure from Aquarion Water Company.

With Hingham residents’ approval, the town can now pay for an analysis of the costs of buying and maintaining the water company which serves over 32,000 people in Hingham Hull and Cohasset.

The Selectmen called for the study because they are not satisfied with Aquarion’s Service and recent

At Monday night’s Town Meeting Hingham Selectmen and the Advisory Committee proved to the people that the town’s water system could be purchased, despite Aquarion’s claims that it was not for sale.

Mary Power of the Hingham Advisory Committee listed the advantages of purchasing the company.

“A town-owned water company wouldn’t have to generate a 10 percent return on equity, pay dividends, corporate overhead, local, state or federal taxes,” Power said. “It also wouldn’t have to pay litigation expenses associated with other communities or defend rate cases.”

Power said Hingham’s water bills are too high and average $919 a year, the fifth highest in the state. She also expressed concern that the company is owned by an Australian bank and if the company is sold, the rates may be raised once again.

Selectman Bruce Rabuffo explained to the town that the price of the study cannot be any lower than $320,000.  He said original $500,000 price was only lowered last week after Aquarion agreed to hand over financial data without fighting the town’s information requests in court.

“This is not about control of water supply,” Rabuffo said. "It is about control of rates and the service you deserve.”

Mike Barkley, a  Cottage Street resident who was in favor of the study told residents that the rates will keep rising and the town will have to continue defending itself if they do not conduct the study.

He said if he were Aquarion, he wouldn’t sell the water system either because it is evident that they are making a profit.

“It’s the goose that lays the golden egg,” Barkley said.

Although the study was ultimately approved after over an hour of discussion, Aquarion tried to urge residents to vote against it.

Harry Hibbard, Vice President of the Water Company said the town is wasting their time and money as they will not be able to bring the rates down. He listed 10 reasons why Hingham should vote “no,” and said a lawsuit against Aquarion would be “costly.”

“This is not just a study,” Hibbard warned the residents. “This article authorizes the Town of Hingham to file a lawsuit against our company to determine the price.  That is the first step down a very slippery slope that will be long, costly and divisive.  Once you follow a lawsuit, you can’t turn that faucet off… The courts-the process- decide exactly what that’s going to cost.”

Cushing street resident Bernard Manning also disagreed with the study. He said a takeover of the company would eventually cost the town millions more as they would need to hire a new staff and create a new water district.

With the approval of the feasibility study on Monday night, the town will now analize the cost and logistics of buying and maintaining the water system.