Water, Wastewater Bills Poised to Climb 10 Percent on July 1

Residential water users in Haverhill face an average of a 10 percent increase in their bills for Fiscal Year 2018, which begins July 1.

Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.

Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.

City councilors will be asked to set the rates as part of their approval of the city’s FY18 budget of $178.5 million when they meet Tuesday beginning at 7 p.m. in the Theodore A. Pelosi City Council Chambers on the second floor of Haverhill City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.

If councilors set the fees sought by Mayor James J. Fiorentini, water rates will climb from to $2.90 from $2.78 per 100 cubic feet; wastewater rates will jump to $4.88 from $4.29.

Assuming a family of four in Haverhill uses the national average of 1,200 cubic feet per month, their combined water/wastewater bill will rise about $100, from $1,018 in the current fiscal year to $1,120 in the fiscal year that begins July 1, which is the day bill reflecting the new rates will arrive in customers’ mailboxes.

“These rates are necessary to meet revenue requirements to operate the Water and Wastewater divisions,” said Deputy DPW Director Robert E. Ward.

According to the city’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget, it will cost $10,994,859 to operate the city’s wastewater facilities and $8,281,692 for water operations.

While property taxes, fees and state aid generally pay for city government, water and sewer ratepayers pay the costs of those services directly.

The increase in wastewater rates is also due to the final year of ratepayer contributions to the first phase of odor abatement improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

2 thoughts on “Water, Wastewater Bills Poised to Climb 10 Percent on July 1

  1. Hahaha, here it comes people. We talked about this happening a couple years ago. The Mayor, in his infinite wisdom, blew off the EPA for years on upgrades within the water dept. Not many were paying attention and blew it off. Well, enjoy the increase and enjoy the future increases as swell. According to the EPA, you can afford to pay four times what you are paying now. We told you so !

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