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BOSTON (State House News Service) — Household water and sewer bills in communities fully served by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority are projected to rise by about $19 on average in fiscal year 2025 under preliminary water and sewer assessments that will be presented to the agency's board Wednesday afternoon.
The MWRA's proposed fiscal year 2025 budget calls for an overall increase of 3 percent in revenue from MWRA rates -- a 3.9 percent increase for water assessments and a 2.5 percent increase for sewer assessments, according to materials included with the agenda for Wednesday's board meeting. But not all communities in the MWRA service area will see rate hikes of the same size, and some will even see their rates go down.
"Preliminary FY25 assessments are based on each community's share of CY23 water use of 62.282 billion gallons, a 5.7% decrease compared to CY22 water use of 66.065 billion gallons," MWRA Executive Director Fred Laskey wrote in a memo to the board. "Changes in FY25 water assessments for customer communities compared to FY24 assessments will vary considerably, depending on each community's use of water and how that use factors into their share of the water system in CY23 compared to CY22. This is particularly true for communities that receive only part of their water from MWRA."
While water usage was down in 2023 compared to 2022, the MWRA said that the water and sewer assessment increases from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025 "are primarily the result of increased debt service related to water system rehabilitation and improvements."
Among municipalities fully served by MWRA water and sewer, Boston will provide about 40 percent of the combined projected assessment in fiscal 2025, a 4.6 percent increase. Everett (2.6 percent of the total projected assessment) will be paying 6.7 percent more and Brookline (3.4 percent) is projected to pay 2.2 percent less. On average, fully served communities will be paying 3.7 percent more for water and sewer in fiscal 2025, according to an MWRA chart.
For communities that are only partially served by MWRA water and sewer, the average combined increase is estimated to be 1.6 percent. Sewer-only cities and towns are looking at a projected increase of 2.3 percent, water-only communities are projected to pay an average of 4.9 percent less, and partial water-only towns are estimated to see an average 7.6 percent decrease.
Written by Colin A. Young/SHNS
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