Water Commission Changes Rates for Senior, Affordable Housing Projects

After several months of debate, the Holliston Board of Water Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a motion reducing usage rates for the town's low-income and affordable developments at Wednesday night's public hearing.

Holliston currently charges water usage in three tiers, which are set to promote conservation. Those homeowners and businesses that use less than 1,500 cubic feet of water per quarter are charged the Tier 1 rate of $3.96 per 100 cubic feet. Meanwhile, Tier 2 users (from 1,500-3,900 cubic feet per quarter) are charged $6.09. Tier 3 users - those who exceed 3,900 cubic feet - are charged $12.92 per 100 cubic feet.

Board members Jeff Weise and Jared Adams approved fellow board member Dennis Ferreira's motion to charge senior housing projects solely at Tier 1 rates. Meanwhile, those projects with family units (which will likely use more water than senior units) will have their total use divided by the number of units. If the average usage exceeds 1,500 cubic feet, the housing project will be billed at Tier 1 rates up to 1,500 and at Tier 2 thereafter.

Cole Court and Mission Springs fall into the former category, while Cutler School and Cutler Heights – which is still under construction – are in the latter.

The decision pleased several residents of Mission Springs who were attending the meeting as well as John Juhl, a co-developer of the Cutler Heights project and a housing board member for Mission Springs Housing for the Elderly, Inc. Juhl had requested the Water Commission lower the rates for senior and affordable housing projects, pointing out that such developments face budget limitations. Inflated water bills, Juhl argued, detract from certain social services offered at those developments.

Furthermore, claimed Juhl, high rates would adversely affect the budgets of the agencies managing those projects. Mission Springs and Cutler Heights have caps on what they can bill for water usage, while the bills at Cole Court and Cutler School are paid by the Holliston Housing Authority.

The flaw in the previous billing system, according to Juhl, was that each of the buildings in these developments only have one large water meter. Since the single meters measure the building's total usage, and do not break it down by individual units, the total generally exceeded 1,500 cubic feet and resulted in Tier 2 rates.

The new rates, in the Board's estimation, will make things more equitable for residents in the four aforementioned housing projects while relieving the budgetary burden on the overseeing agencies.

"(These housing projects) are importanmt assets for the community and will, hopefully, be there for the long term," said Juhl.

The Board opted to keep the current quarterly water meter fees, ultimately dismissing the idea of charging "phantom fees." Each of the housing projects have just one large (2 or 4-inch) meter, which is cheaper than having a small (5/8-inch) meter on each unit. A 5/8-inch meter is typical of a single-family house and costs $7.50 per quarter.

Phantom fees would have charged the equivalent of a 5/8-inch meter for each unit, a proposal that would have eaten up much of the savings from the rate decreases.

Though the Board ultimately approved the rate breaks, the members acknowledge that the onus to make up the lost money will shift to other place.

"This is something that never should have happened," said Weise. "There should be individual meters in every unit and that's the end of it. It never should have gotten to this point.

"Everything we discount off the established rates has to come from somewhere else," he added. "It means that everyone else in town is going to have to make it up."