SAUGUS — Town Meeting members shot down a proposed increase in water rates at the Monday Special Town Meeting which would have cost the average Saugus family 18 dollars annually.
The article failed by a vote of 27 to 19 in a repudiation of the Finance Committee’s recommendation to increase the rates by four percent in 2021.
Town Meeting Member Bill Brown was convinced to oppose the rate increase by a resident he spoke with at Stop and Shop.
“He hasn’t worked in over four months,” said Brown. “Money is extremely tight. The new tax bill is starting to reflect the cost of the high school. He went on and on about his situation being tough. And I realized that there are a number of people in this town that are struggling to get through this holiday season. And I just think that this is a poor time for raising the water rates.”
Town Manager Scott Crabtree supported the rate increase, which he hoped would help the town meet its financial goals for the next five years, and run their water enterprise fund in a way that was fiscally responsible.
“You have to have the rates able to produce enough revenue to pay for debt service, operations, and all the things that are included in running that enterprise account,” said Crabtree. “Like anyone I don’t want increases but we have to think, how do we make the operating account work, and how do we pay for it.”
The article specified that the funds would have been used exclusively for water expenses, water maintenance, water debt and interest and water improvement programs.
Town Meeting Member Peter Manoogian read a list of nine reasons why he did not support the rate increase, including the fact that Saugus is struggling economically, that the numbers about rate increases had been understated due to people working from home using more water than they otherwise would have, and a flaw in the policy that freezes the rates for multi-family dwellings that freeze the rates at a lower tier.
“And in May 2021, Town Meeting will be asked to raise rates yet again,” said Manoogian. “We’re on a trajectory to double water and sewage rates in less than a decade.”
Andrew Whitcomb, the newest Town Meeting member came into the meeting uncertain about the water rate increase, but was convinced to oppose the article by the other members’ arguments.
“It just didn’t feel right to put pressure on taxpayers during the pandemic,” said Whitcomb. “It didn’t seem like the right thing to do at the time morally.”
The members approved all the other articles up for debate in the Special Town Meeting including Article 2 which maneuvers the town’s finances in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, using free cash instead of Saugus’ stabilization fund which, Crabtree says will help the town maintain its AA+ bond rating recently reaffirmed by bond rating company S&P Global.
The meeting unanimously supported Article 8 which appropriated $1,250,000 for COVID-19 related repairs and upgrades to town buildings. The funds would be used to improve air quality, HVAC systems and other health related upgrades in schools and other town buildings.
The meeting also unanimously supported Article 6 which appropriated $250,000 for the purchase of new police cruisers, and Article 9 which appropriated $300,000 for the repair of streets and sidewalks.
