Scituate raises sewer rates to cover costs

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent

Scituate will increase its sewer rates by 10 percent this year to make up for the lack of rate increases since 2004.

According to Albert Bangert, director of the Department of Public Works, the current average of $500 per year will increase to $550, netting an additional $80,000 for the Sewer Department.

The department is constituted as an enterprise fund, which means it must operate like a business and pay for all the costs the department incurs. According to Bangert, the rate increase reflects “the debt service, the need to reinvest in an aging system, and to cover the rising price of chemicals and maintenance costs.”

According to selectmen chair John Danehey, the town has been focused on other areas in the past, and is just now adjusting the rate which theoretically should have been raised a little each year.

"In the past seven years…we’ve been dealing with other issues in the town," Danehey said. "We’ve been very fortunate as a town not to have increased it in seven years ... I think that at this point, we’re trying to improve the quality of the sewer treatment, and in order to do so, we need to raise the rates to cover all the costs."

Despite the increase, Scituate will continue to be the lowest charging municipality for sewer rates in the region, officials say.

According to a chart provided at a Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday, Quincy charges $1,329 per user, Cohasset $1,051, Hingham $1,020, and Marshfield $971. The second-lowest rate is in Bourne, with an average of $734 per user.

Although the rate increase follows seven years at the same rate, Bangert said rates are likely to increase a little each year moving forward.

“This is an appropriate adjustment, 10 percent, which will cover our immediate needs,” Bangert said. “Customers should expect slight readjustments over time. We don’t have a plan to have an increase, but we might [in future years].”

The selectmen voted unanimously on Tuesday night to implement the rate increase. If the town had raised rates 2.5 percent annually over the past seven years, the rate would currently stand at $594.