Town Manager: Water Rates 'Will Go Up'

Water rates "will go up,” said Daniel Morgado, Shrewsbury .

When they will be raised, and by how much, is yet to be finalized.

At the beginning of August, Morgado sent a memo to selectmen, asking for a review of the rate structure and and outlining how and why an increase was needed.

Rates were last evaluated and restructured in 2008 and increases are now necessary to maintain provided water in an “appropriate fashion,” Morgado said.

As proposed, a water customer who uses the median amount of water would be charged $35 per quarter. The average resident now pays $30 each quarter to have water services. In addition, usage costs of water would increase by 20 cents on each thousand gallons of water used, Morgado said. Currently, residents pay $7.50 per thousand gallons of water.

Town officials understand that many pressures and costs compete for family budgets, Morgado said, adding that the Shrewsbury government only wants to extract the minimal amount necessary to maintain the civic structure.

A harmony should be struck, he said, because Shrewsbury has always been a community developed around a low tax philosophy. Maintaining such a policy must be always carefully balanced against costs of running the town, he said.

The proposal also considers the fact that most of the town is made up of low water users, Morgado said. Since 2003, when the water tax system was revamped, many water customers pay even less than they previously did.

Morgado said there is a science to how water is pumped and supplied to customers. When this process becomes more expensive, rates are driven up, he said, adding that neither politics nor people raise those costs.

Another thing being considered is the structure for sewer rates, Morgado said, adding that these rates have evolved to be much more costly than water rates.

The Board of Selectmen will most likely take action on the proposal from the town manager’s office in meetings on on Sept. 11 or Sept. 25.