A flood of rate hikes

In either case, you’ve got to pay more - a lot more, in some water districts - just about every year.

For more than two decades, it seemed the towns that formed independent water authorities were getting the better deal. After a federal judge ordered the cleanup of Boston Harbor in 1985, MWRA communities were routinely pounded with double-digit rate increases to cover the $6.8 billion cost.

Now though, even as MWRA water rates have stabilized - this year, the increase is just 3.8 percent - many area communities that chose to go it alone or in two- or three-town partnerships are getting hammered.

Take East Bridgewater, population about 14,000, for example. The town built two water-filtration plants and installed new water mains costing $14.7 million that have just gone on line, drawing from five town wells.

Even though it obtained low-interest loans from the state, the town’s customers have seen water rates rise 123 percent over the past three years - the highest increase among area communities - and the rates will remain high for about 20 years while the loans are being paid off, according to local officials.

“Over a period of time, the rates should balance themselves out,’’ said Tom Reynolds, operations manager for East Bridgewater’s Department of Public Works.

Town residents had a chance to take some of the sting out of the increase not long ago by overriding Proposition 2 1/2’s limit on property taxes. The meaure would have allowed the cost of the plant to be paid with property taxes, which are deductible on federal taxes, rather than from water fees, but the proposal went down by a 4-1 ratio.

“I think people just heard the word ‘override’ and said no,’’ said Reynolds.

For two other area towns, Hingham and Hull, and the northern part of Cohasset, ratepayers were hit with a double whammy in the last two years, as customers of the Aquarion Water Co. of Massachusetts. A subsidiary of the largest investor-owned water utility in New England, Aquarion received approval March 31 from the state Department of Public Utilities for a 23.4 percent rate increase.

That followed Governor Deval Patrick’s veto of a water grant provision in last year’s Environmental Bond Bill. The veto left Aquarion’s water customers in the three towns to cover the cost of a $40 million loan for a water plant built in 1997. The debt previously had been paid through the state grant, a subsidy that had saved the system’s typical ratepayer $100 a year.

All of Cohasset is a pricy place to turn on the tap. The town’s Water Department has invested millions in upgrading every aspect of its operations since a 1994 crisis that saw 300 homes on Jerusalem Road go without water for several days during the summer. The district has won several awards for water quality in recent years, but those improvements have come at a price. The town now has the costliest water south of Boston: $1,067 a year for annual residential consumption of 90,000 gallons, a common industry benchmark.

Ratepayers in Braintree, Randolph, and Holbrook will soon have to pony up for a pricy item, a new water treatment plant. Because of limited capacities and outdated facilities, the three water partners have placed restrictions on water use by their residential customers for decades, although officials in the towns insist that hasn’t stymied commercial growth.

Now the three towns will share the cost of a new plant that is estimated to cost $33 million to $40 million.

Whether federal stimulus funds become available or the project is paid for with low-cost state loans, jousting has begun over legislation that will detail who pays what.

Holbrook uses just 15 percent of the water consumed in the tri-town district, while Randolph uses 37 percent and Braintree 48 percent. Holbrook officials say their town’s share of the plant’s cost should closely follow usage.

Peter Morin, chief of staff for Braintree Mayor Joseph Sullivan, said despite the restrictions and the cost of upgrading facilities, the tri-town model has worked for local residents.

“It provides a measure of local control on rates we wouldn’t have if we were with the MWRA,’’ said Morin. “We’re already tightening up our collection methods and putting other measures in place to soften the upcoming impact of the plant on our rates.’’

He said the plant’s effect on rates has yet to be determined.

Randolph has already felt the jolt of higher water rates, even before the plant is built. After a Town Meeting vote two years ago, the town completed its conversion to a water and sewer enterprise account.

Under the new system, all of the expenses for water and sewer operations, including salaries, insurance, and capital improvements, are borne solely by the revenue from usage fees, with no help from the town’s general funds.

The shift resulted in an increase of about 24 percent in water and sewer rates for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Earlier this year, 30 percent of the water and sewer bills in Randolph - about $2 million worth - went unpaid for more than 30 days, creating a fiscal crisis that threatened to force rates up yet again. The town sent out 2,300 past-due notices to customers to speed payment.

David Zecchini, the town’s DPW director, theorized that some ratepayers were waiting for the bills to become liens appearing on their property tax bills, and paying them in that fashion might make them tax-deductible.

The town responded by tightening the collection rules; now service to homes and businesses that are more than 90 days overdue can be shut off, and a $100 reconnection fee charged.

“It’s amazing how many people pay their bill when threatened with shutoff,’’ said Zecchini.

In Brockton, Whitman, and parts of Hanson, water rates have been pushed up by costs related to the building of the state’s first desalinization plant.

Brockton’s rates have suffered the most, rising 62 percent in the past three years as the city pays its share of the $70 million plant in Dighton. The city, which has been chronically short of water, decided to become part of the project after being ordered by the courts to find an alternative to its use of Silver Lake. Rates in Whitman and part of Hanson, also in the Brockton district, have gone up too, but to a lesser degree.

Conservation, ironically, has contributed to the general upward trend of water rates. Randolph, for example, sells about 15 percent fewer gallons of water to residents than five years ago. The net result is that the amount of revenue generated is less, and with overhead expenses rising even as consumption falls, the water rates go up.

“When rates go up, people conserve,’’ said Zecchini. “I know I do.’’

Rich Fahey can be reached at faheywrite@yahoo.com.