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| By Courtney Llewellyn Reminder Assistant Editor LONGMEADOW A mistake had been made, according to Select Board Chair Hal Haberman. He admitted to this mistake several times over the past few months when discussing the water and sewer rates adopted this past summer. The board has found a temporary solution for the issues raised by some of the exorbitant bills mailed to residents, however. At their Jan. 7 meeting, the Select Board decided to rescind the tiered water and sewer rate structure that went into place on July 1. When the first bills began arriving a few months later, some residents were shocked -- they found amounts that were double, triple and in some cases quadruple what they normally paid. Information from the Select Board said the average user would only see an increase of about 15 percent in their bills. According to Haberman, approximately 300 to 400 residents were penalized for using large amounts of water. This increase was the first time residences and businesses had seen a water and sewer rate increase in six years. The higher rates were needed to cover the increased cost of environmental regulatory compliance, payment of debt on the Wheelmeadow Sewer Project, the need to fund deferred capital maintenance and cover increases in the cost to purchase water from Springfield. It was supposed to put a focus on water conservation. "These original rates didn't work," Haberman told Reminder Publications. "I proposed new rates last Thursday [Jan. 3] to alleviate the hurts. They're not perfect, but I hope they're going to work." The rates before the tiered rate was adopted were $1.33 per hundred cubic feet (HCF) of water used, $1.60 for sewer. The new rates adopted by the Select Board, acting as the Water and Sewer Commission, will be $1.70 for water and $2.05 for sewer. "It's a flat 28 percent increase," Haberman said. "We tried to make it easy." A semi-annual sewer rate cut-off of 110 HCF was also approved. A release from the board stated, "Residents will receive sewer refunds for bills issued between July 1 and December 31, 2007 if their usage is in excess of the above adopted semi-annual cut-off." All current bills are due and payable, however. Overdue bills will be subject to interest of 12 percent and failure to pay may result in shut-off of service or placing a lien on the property, according to the release. "We're trying to simplify the matter. Everybody will be going ahead equally now," Haberman said. "It's fair to everybody." The release from the board also asks residents to voluntarily limit their consumption of water. Haberman used an analogy to explain the situation. "When gas goes up to $3.25 a gallon, you hope people won't be driving around as much as they were when it was only $2 a gallon. We're hopeful that with any sort of increase people will conserve and save. We'd rather start voluntary conservation [with the new rates] than force it on them." While Haberman acknowledges the new rates aren't perfect, he said he sees them "as a much better thing than what's come before." "I'm very hopeful it's going to work and satisfy some problems," he stated. "Hopefully, we've addressed it properly. It's not an exact science knowing what people need." Haberman added that he's sure there will be a change in the rates at the end of the new rate period in June. |