New water rates voted by Selectmen

At the beginning of Tuesday night’s Selectmen’s meeting (Oct. 28, 2014) the Selectmen held a hearing on water rates.

DPW Superintendent Eric Hooper proposed to:

• leave the fixed base fee unchanged at $20 per quarter ($80 per year)
• increase the top block rate from $13.50 per thousand gallons to $15.00
• have the top block rate take effect only after the first 24,000 gallons of use, instead of the current 22,500 gallons.

These changes would have resulted in a 3.5% increased in Water Dept. revenues, which, combined with increases over the past few years, would have brought revenues up to approximately $3.25 million per year. This is slightly less than the inflation-adjusted amount of about $3.4 million per year needed to pay for operations, infrastructure maintenance, and system improvements such as an emergency backup connection to MWRA, according to the 2010 Water Master Plan.

These changes would have affected only those using more than 22,500 gallons of water per quarter. They were endorsed by the Water Management Advisory Committee (WMAC).

Board of Selectmen Chairman Bill Heitin then proposed to:

• increase the quarterly fixed base fee from $20 to $22 (an increase of $8 per year for every household)
• leave the top block rate unchanged at $13.50
• have the top block rate take effect only after the first 24,000 gallons of use, instead of the current 22,550 gallons.

Selectman Joe Roach said he would go along with Selectman Heitin’s proposal only if the increase in the quarterly fixed base fee were $1.00 instead of $2.00, which is what the Selectmen voted to do.

The change voted by the Selectmen affects every household, rejects any increase in the usage rate for the heaviest users, and reduces the incentive for heavy water users to conserve, compared to the proposal recommended by Mr. Hooper and endorsed by the WMAC. It also results in less revenue for the Water Dept., which has already had to borrow money to pay for projects called for in the Water Master Plan.

The Selectmen’s decision to increase the fixed base fee instead of increasing the top block rate does not by itself materially change Sharon’s conservation-oriented water rate structure. However, in combination with last year’s decision to increase the fixed base fee from $15 per quarter to $20, and the earlier decision to stop including any water with the minimum charge, it represents a worrisome trend to shift more of the burden of providing the community with water onto conserving households.

The Selectmen are considering joining the MWRA system to obtain supplementary water in summer when heavy water use (especially lawn irrigation) drives up demand (see: http://sharon.wickedlocal.com/article/20141005/News/141007736). This would cost Sharon rate payers millions of dollars. Shouldn’t those whose heavy water usage is pushing Sharon toward importing MWRA water have to pay for it?

A video replay of the Oct. 28 Selectmen’s meeting can be seen on local cable TV, and is posted at: http://www.sharontv.com/gov_replays4.html.