Newspaper Article

DRINKING AND FLUSHING LESS, BUT PAYING MORE

Slind, Michael

2006

Overview

Brookline selectmen approved the new, higher rate, along with a sewer rate for next year that will jump by 8.8 percent, on July 18, and soon afterward, residents began receiving the first quarterly bills reflecting the increase. By [Andrew M. Pappastergion]'s estimate, a typical family of four will now pay $78 a year more for water and sewer service. The total bill for that theoretical household will reach about $1,190. Wholesale rates might have increased still more this year if the state budget had not included nearly $19 million for MWRA debt service relief. This month, just as Pappastergion was submitting his budget to selectmen, the state Legislature overrode a veto by Governor Romney that threatened the appropriation. Without such assistance, according to Pappastergion, Brookline's MWRA assessment would have risen by 9.8 percent. In exchange for paying the MWRA rate, Pappastergion told selectmen, residents tap into \"the best water in the country.\" [Ria Convery] used the same language when asked how consumers should respond to sharply increasing rates: \"You get the best water system in the country.\"

• Publisher: Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC
• Subject: Demand / Utility rates / Water utilities