SWAMPSCOTT — The town approved a new tiered water and sewer rate system this week, saying that it will make utility payments more equitable among residents.
Under the new system, ratepayers will be divided into three tiers based on their consumption levels, with those who use more paying a higher rate. Previously, residents paid flat base and consumption rates.
“When we look at our average user, they were paying about two cents a gallon, and when we look at folks in the higher tiers, they were paying about three tenths of a cent less,” said Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald in Tuesday night’s Select Board meeting, adding that those small amounts add up. “What we’re trying to do is really a surgical adjustment. How do we get everybody to that same price per gallon?”
Those in the lowest tier will pay the same base rate as last year ($13.25 per quarter for water and $20 for sewer) plus $7.33 per 100 cubic feet for water and $5.75 per hundred cubic feet for sewer. In tier two, residents will pay a base rate of $13.65 for water and $20.60 for sewer, along with consumption rates of $7.60 for water and $6.50 for sewer. The users with the highest consumption would pay the same base rate as those in tier two, with consumption rates of $7.80 for water and $7.20 for sewer.
Fitzgerald added that, by state law, the town has to change its rate to a tiered system.
Select Board member Neal Duffy, who sat on the committee that designed the new system, said that the plan was the most equitable way to charge residents for water and sewer, explaining that previously, people who used more water were paying less per gallon than others.
“There will be a steeper increase for those accounts this year, but we’re correcting for something that was unfair previously,” Duffy said. “That’s really the point of all of this change.”
He added that if the town had not switched to this system, the base fees for everyone in town would be higher than those approved this week.
Some residents of condominiums in town who attended the meeting expressed concern that their rates would be unfairly raised more than others’ because the condo complex would be billed for the consumption of all of its residents, automatically placing them in a higher tier.
However, Board Chair Peter Spellios argued that the system is more fair for everyone, because each resident will be paying the same per-gallon rate.
“The reality is, certain residents in our town pay per gallon less for water than other residents, and there is no explicable reason,” he said. “A gallon of water is a gallon of water is a gallon of water.”
Water and sewer bills, which usually go out in August, will be delayed because of the late approval of the new rates; residents will have a longer period in which to pay their bills to account for the delay.
