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City officials and the public met to demand answers and explanations for recent rate increases to Somerville residents’ water bills over the past week. — Photo by Donald Norton
By Joe Ruvido
Somerville Water Authority held a public meeting on Wednesday September 6 to discuss the raising of water and sewer rates in the city. The department raised the base connection charge for a water meter to $5 per meter for a residence or commercial building with a 1-inch connection size. The sewer base connection charge was raised to $10 per month.
Though the water usage rate – the charge per gallon consumed and referred to as the “volumetric” rate by the Sewer and Water Commission – remains unchanged, the sewer usage rate has increased by 5 percent. The water usage rate will remain unchanged for FY 2017. The new rates went into effect on July 1.
According to the Water Department website, the reasons for the increase are twofold. First, there was an increase of $960,000 in charges to the City of Somerville from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). Also, water usage rates have decreased due to conservation and the drought, decreasing volumetric revenues for the city.
“Conservation is a good thing, but comes at a price,” said Mark Lawhorne of Somerville Water and Sewer regarding lower volumetric use, who presented a slide deck and answered questions from those at the meeting.
Lawhorne says they chose “the lesser of two evils” in raising base charges for water and sewer while keeping volumetric rates for water unchanged. “We had to do this for the Enterprise Fund, to keep up with increasing maintenance and repair costs.”
Several aldermen were in attendance at the meeting, including President William White. Many questions from the public disputed the need to implement the base charges and increased sewer fees to long-time Somerville homeowners and residents.
At least two questions from those in attendance emphasized that developers and condo-management companies should shoulder more of the burden of the charges and rates. Many decried the base charge schedule as unfair to owners of single-family homes, as they would be charged the same base rate as a landlord or condo management company that can spread that cost over multiple occupants in their building.
Others expressed anger from their belief that the rate required more advanced notice and public scrutiny before being raised. “This is not Communist China, or Russia, this is the United States of America and we have due process,” protested one resident who declined to be named.
The City Solicitor Francis Wright found no impropriety on a part of the Water Department in raising the base rates. “In my opinion, the base charge for water and sewer and the sewer rate increase are valid and legal, and cannot be struck down or invalidated because of any missed deadlines,” said Wright in a letter posted to the Board of Alderman website.
The Board discussed the issue at their regularly scheduled meeting on September 13. City Solicitor Francis Wright was present to defend his opinion that the Water and Sewer Commission acted appropriately in raising the base charges and sewer rates.
At least two of the aldermen in attendance disputed Wright’s opinion that the rate increases followed city ordinance and legislative procedure. Ordinance 11-125 stipulates that the commissioner hold a public hearing before May 15 before any charge is levied for the next fiscal year. The meeting for the current water and sewer increases was not held until June 30.
Alderman Katjana Ballantyne voiced that concern: “The sewer charge … seems like it’s illegal, because there was no public hearing by May 15th.”
Though the Board does not have authority to raise or lower rates as a legislative body, they do debate and advise on such issues on behalf of their constituents.
Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang agreed that if there was no public hearing regarding the rate increase then it could be illegal. “I cannot recall it being posted,” he said.
The Board will re-discuss the issue at their next meeting on September 27. For now, Lawhorne and the aldermen do agree on one thing. “When you receive your bill, pay the bill and the base charge,” says Lawhorne. Alderman White agrees, “No one wants to be charged a $35 fee for having a balance.”
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I thank the Aldermen for trying to protect the residents by questioning the unannounced charges. But like any other charge in this city, it’s a lost cause trying to challenge it.
They will always find some way to justify any fees they charge us, even when they are faced with legal issues such as deadlines.
I heard someone say on a radio show recently that Somerville is becoming like Wellesley. I agree. You now have to be wealthy to live here in order to afford the constant increases in taxes and fees, not to mention the high rents for those who can’t afford to own a home.
If you’re not wealthy, you have to jump through hoops to prove to the city that you can’t afford to pay the fees, and even if you have a limited income, you have to pretty much prove every year that you have nothing in the bank whatsoever to even be considered for a break. So much for saving money for repairs, emergencies or retirement.
Yes, you have to be rich to afford to live here, and unless you can hit the lottery or have a rich relative leave you an inheritance, your days living here are probably numbered.
Even before the rate changes, I have always felt that the water and sewer fees were way too high. I called to complain once and was told that our spending was normal for a unit and family of our size. I don’t have any stats to compare to though, so I really don’t know.
From the little I can gather $7 for the meter is about average across the country. An advance notice would have been helpful so I would know what to cut from my budget. We have been careful knowing there is a drought and this is our reward for using too little water.
I’m still curious how this was accounted for in the city budget both in income and expenditures. I tried looking through the budget and could not find it. (I may have missed it) This is a significant amount of money.
The average American family of 4 would expect a water usage bill of $71.96/month in Somerville.
According to the water and sewer website the volumetric rate for residential water in Somerville is $4.14 per 100 cubic feet used.
Using the EPA estimate the average American family uses 400 gal of water/day, so in a 30 day month that’s 12,000 gallons, or roughly 16 100ft³. Using the water volumetric fee schedule for Somerville (rate increases to $5.97/100ft³ after the first 13 100ft³ used/month) calculates to $71.96 on top of the $5 base charge/month.
Joe, thanks for the stats… We are a family of four. According to AquaHawk, we generally use less than 400 gal of water/day. Two quarters ago, we were using 9,000-11,000 gallons a month and paid ~$716 for that quarter (~$179/month)! Then we clamped down on water usage during the next quarter and used about 5,000-7,000 gallons a month and paid $416 for that quarter (~$104/month)!
So my numbers don’t match your expectations at all. :-/