LWSC panel says billboard profits ripe for picking

LYNN – Water and Sewer ratepayers have missed out on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of potential rate relief revenue from a billboard located on prime Route 1 land owned by the agency.The commission has charged Clear Channel Communications – and a host of billboard companies before it – $1,200 a year to rent space on the board since 1978 when the structure was built.The commission voted this week to scrap that rock-bottom rent and renegotiate a new contract that Water and Sewer Executive Director Daniel O’Neill said could potentially be worth $80,000 to $100,000 a year.”We can get that and more,” said commissioner and businessman Walter Proodian, who joined colleagues Wayne Lozzi, William Trahant, Sr. and Scott McPherson in approving recommendations to cancel the current sign lease.Water and Sewer acquired land the billboard sits on in 1907 from an owner who sold it on the condition he could continue clearing trees on the site through 1913.Over the next century the sign site was designated a wetland and became the target of wetlands protections concerns raised by Lynn and Lynnfield officials.Water and Sewer officials said the decision to renegotiate the lease coincides with efforts to restrict this summer’s rate increase to an amount significantly less than the 11.6 percent increase in 2007.Commission Chief Financial Officer David Travers said high water use during last summer’s hot weather and plans to aggressively collect overdue bill amounts have increased commission revenue.