Saugus officials to meet on water rates

SAUGUS – The residents of 846 Broadway Mobile Home Park may finally get some relief from their stunner of a water bill after town officials meet on Wednesday.The owner of the Mobile Home Park was shocked when he opened his December water bill and saw it shot up from $25,000 to $103,000. The increase was the result of a plan Selectmen had to help low-end water and sewer users.Town Meeting members voted last spring to lower the minimum rate payment to give low-end water users a break. Selectmen followed suit with the sewer bill.In doing so, the board created two new tiers and bumped up the cost for high-end users. Because the trailer park uses only one meter for all 74 homes, it is one of the town’s high-end users and now its bill reflects that.The park is also home to some residents who can least afford the increase. Residents saw their monthly rent bills go up $79 to offset the cost of the sewer bill for the owner. Most of those residents converged on the Selectmen meeting last month fearing they might be evicted if they didn’t pay the new rent.Residents said they didn’t necessarily blame the landlord for the increase, but couldn’t afford it either.Selectman Michael Kelleher, who organized the meeting to help the residents, said he suspects the board will have to reclassify the park in order to lower the bill.Initially, Kelleher thought the town could look at metering each mobile home individually, but he said it’s already been determined that would be too expensive.If a reclassification is approved, the question will still remain regarding other developments that are in the same boat as the trailer park.Selectman Stephen Horlick said he heard from at least two condominium developments that also saw their bill skyrocket.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said there is also the concern that if bills are reclassified for everyone, the enterprise revenue won’t cover expenses.”But we have to do something,” he said. “This certainly wasn’t anticipated.”The committee dealing with the issue will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.