Water and sewer bills going up

By Johanna Seltz, Town Correspondent

Water and sewer bills going out this month will be about 5 percent higher with the new rates set by selectmen last week.

The change means the average family of four will pay about $21 more this quarter -- $429.24 instead of $408.48. That translates to an increase of about $84 over the year.

Selectmen retained the town’s four-tiered billing system, which progressively charges more to those who consume more, as a way to encourage conservation.

Milton belongs to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, or MWRA, buying about 1 billion gallons of water annually and paying for sewage treatment and disposal.

The MWRA charged Milton more this year, especially for water, according to Director of Public Works Joseph Lynch. The town would have been $250,000 in the red, if it hadn’t raised the local water and sewer rates, he said.

“We saw a pretty significant increase in our water assessment this past year, and that’s a driving factor in the water rate" increase, Lynch said. He said Milton used proportionally more water than other communities in the MWRA system.

“We’re green and sustainable-minded in every other way, but it seems even in wet years Milton continues to use a significantly high amount of water,” Lynch said. “We don’t have any industry, so it’s driven by residential uses.”

He said another factor in the need for increased rates was a change in accounting practices involving how indirect costs were assessed to the water and sewer accounts.

Johanna Seltz can be reached at seelenfam@verizon.net.