Proposed 7.6 Percent Water Rate Hike On The Table

The Melrose residential water rate would increase by 40 cents to $5.65 next year under the proposal currently before the Board of Aldermen.

The aldermen opened a public hearing Monday night on the proposed water and sewer rates for next year, but recessed the public hearing until Monday, June 18 due to the absence of Patrick Dello Russo, chief financial officer and city auditor, who was away at a conference.

In the meantime, next year's proposed rates—the final piece of the city's fiscal 2013 budget puzzle—will go before the aldermen's Appropriations Committee on Thursday this week for discussion, and incoming Director John Scenna provided the aldermen with a brief overview of the proposed rates.

Along with the residential rate bump, which equates to a 7.62 percent increase over last year's rate, the commercial water rate would increase by 50 cents to $6.95, a 7.75 percent increase. Those rates are per 100 cubic feet of usage.

Together, those water rates are projected to raise $5,252,500, Scenna said, covering the city's projected operating budgets, direct and indirect debt, and its assessment from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), which provides water and sewer service to Melrose. The city's Water Enterprise budget for next year is $4,610,554.

For sewer, the combined residential and commercial rate would increase 25 cents to $9.60, a 2.67 percent increase over last year's rate. That would raise $7,095,114, Scenna said. The city's Sewer Enterprise budget for next year is $6,605,172.

Scenna attributed the relatively low percentage increase on the sewer rate in part to the infiltration-and-inflow (I&I) projects done over the past five years, which mitigate groundwater from seeping into the city's water and sewer system and causing a higher consumption total, and subsequently higher MWRA assessments.

On Thursday, Scenna said the administration will present consumption numbers to the board, noting that the MWRA as a system is consuming less water.

"That gives the MWRA less flexibility—you set a rate, consume less water, you still have to make the same end rate," he said.

Also up for discussion will be water work done by the MWRA and the city over the past three years; reserve funds; comments from the state Department of Revenue on last year's rates; and breakdowns of the water and sewer enterprise budgets.

Scenna said the budgets have three main components: operations, debt and the MWRA. Taken together, he said, the MWRA and debt account for roughly 90 percent of the sewer budget, meaning 10 cents on every dollar collected goes to salaries and day-to-day operations. The MWRA assessment and debt account for 70 percent of the water budget.

According to preliminary MWRA assessments (PDF attached), Melrose's water assessment is $2,409,329, a 5.7 percent increase over last year, and its sewer assessment is $5,498,875, a 2.2 percent increase over fiscal 2012. Those assessments, Scenna noted, are based on three-year averages of the city's consumption.

Alderman at-Large Don Conn took the opportunity, as he has in past years, to chastize the MWRA and the effect its budget has on Melrose and other communities serviced by the agency.

"I sit here year after year, I see people from the state delegation come and go, and year after year, that bloated, useless bureaucracy that is the MWRA continues to roll on and on—not building things, but lending money and floating bonds," Conn said. "People have to stop this agency. People on Beacon Hill have to stop it and if they don’t, voters need to stop it. It’s out of control and nothing ever changes."