SWAMPSCOTT — Before August of 2021, the water and sewer rate in Swampscott was a flat rate in which people would pay one set dollar amount per water meter. There were certain problems with this structure, typically for larger water and sewer consumption, so the city decided to adopt a tier-based water and sewer rate.
Speaking at the virtual financial meeting on Monday, treasurer/collector of Swampscott Patrick Luddy, brought up plans to adjust the water and sewer rate in Swampscott for FY23.
The structure consists of two charges in water and sewer usage, consumption charge and base rate. Consumption of water and sewer is categorized in three tiers: zero-2500 cubic feet (tier 1), 2501-25000 cubic feet (tier 2) and more than 25001 cubic feet (tier 3). The base rate is divided by three tiers: zero-1000 cubic feet (tier 1), 1000-25000 cubic feet (tier 2) and more than 25001 cubic feet (tier 3). The base rate for the water or sewer tier 2 and 3 is currently the same.
Most residents’ usage now lies in tier 1 for consumption charges (zero-2500 cubic feet), and tier 2 for base rate charge (1000-25000 cubic feet).
The idea of adopting tier structure is to encourage people to conserve water, as well as be able to capture a higher consumption rate on higher end users, according to Luddy.
The water supply in Swampscott is provided by Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and Lynn Water and Sewer Commission provides wastewater treatment services to the town. The town has to balance the budget and revenue by adjusting the charge to every meter. The main challenge that the town of Swampscott faces now is that this summer, the lack of rainfall increased water consumption compared to last summer, which led to FY 23 revenue challenges. The financial committee has to prepare for some pricing adjustment.
In the meeting, two adjusted options were presented by Luddy. Both are increasing the rate overall; the only difference is by how much.
The rate option one is to increase the water and sewer consumption rates by 2.5 percent. For example, the tier 1 water consumption rate is $7.33 now, and will be $7.51 if the committee adopts this plan. There is no change on base rate in tier 1 and would increase the water base rate in tier 2/3 from $13.65 to $14; increase the sewer base rate in tier 2/3 from $20.6 to $21. This is the modest increase based on the revised budget.
The other plan is to increase the water consumption rates and base rate, including every tier by three percent, and the sewer consumption rates and base rate by 2.75 percent. This will be more significant compared to the previous one.
The committee has not yet decided on which plan to adopt. In a chart provided by Luddy, the rate after increase is still in the moderate rank among the MWRA community. With Nahant standing the highest on the chart with $24, Revere at $17, Swampscott proposed tier 3 (the highest rate) at $15.41. Swampscott’s water consumption is more expensive than the partial area of Lynn, Saugus and Peabody.
Sylvia Chen can be reached at [email protected]
