Aldermen boost water and sewer rates

By Calvin Hennick, Globe Correspondent

Newton aldermen Monday unanimously approved a $333.8 million budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins July 1, and also passed a water and sewer rate increase that will cost the average resident more than $100 next year.

The budget is subject to possible state cuts in local aid. If cuts are made, Mayor David Cohen will have to submit a revised budget to the Board of Aldermen.

Ward 6 Alderman at Large Kenneth Parker lost in an attempt to delay the vote on the water and sewer rates. He presented his own plan, which would have kept rates level for low-level users but would have sharply increased charges on the largest users.

“In an economy that has been called by many the worst since the Great Depression, we should not be handing out the greatest water and sewer rate increase in the city’s history,” said Parker, who is a mayoral candidate.

“This proposes to raise the sewer rate on the high-end users by a significant amount of money,” said Ward 5 Alderman at Large Paul Coletti, who is running against Parker and two other candidates in this fall’s mayoral election. “It’s not rocket science what he’s proposing to do.”

Under the rates passed by aldermen, the average resident will an increase of about $118 on their water and sewer bills next year. Parker said his plan would raise more revenue while only increasing bills for the average resident by about $30. But opponents of his proposal pointed out that the change would have resulted in a large increase in water bills for the city’s businesses and nonprofit institutions.

Only two other board members joined Parker in voting against the water and sewer rates.

The defeat is the second within a week for Parker. Last Thursday, [the board rejected his attempt to freeze salaries for some nonunion employees, a move he said would have put the city in a better bargaining position with its union employees.