Under the proposal, the typical household water and sewer bill would increase an average of $46.80 annually, or about $3.90 per month.
SPRINGFIELD – A proposed $51.2 million budget for the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission that includes water and sewer rate increases, effective July 1, generated little public interest at the commission’s annual hearing on Tuesday night.
Just two residents attended the hearing at City Hall, outnumbered by the three-member commission and 10 commission officials who provided a detailed presentation on the proposed budget, capital projects, rate increases and fee changes.
“It’s sad there is not bigger participation,” said Carmen E. Serrano-Gerena, commission chairwoman.
As proposed, the combined water and sewer rate for residential customers will increase by approximately 8 percent, effective July 1. The typical household water and sewer bill is estimated to increase an average of $46.80 annually, or about $3.90 per month.
The budget is increasing from approximately $50 million to $51.2 million, representing a 2.4 percent increase.
The commission may vote on the budget and rate increases on June 10.
The rates affect Springfield and Ludlow customers. In addition, several communities in the region receive water under contracts with the commission and are billed for the cost of discharging sewage at the regional wastewater treatment facility at Bondi’s Island.
The city and many other communities nationwide are under a mandate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate the sewage overflows by creating separate pipes to handle stormwater and sewage in place of single older pipes.
In 2009, the commission completed two combined sewer overflow projects targeting the Chicopee River in Springfield at a total cost of $36.4 million, assisted by a state revolving loan fund with an interest rate of 2.5 percent.
One of the residents who did attend the meeting Tuesday night, John Wojcik of Greenlawn Street in Sixteen Acres, raised concerns that the commission’s long-term debt has risen to approximately $106 million, largely related to federally mandated projects to eliminate combined sewer overflows that have long harmed the Chicopee and Connecticut rivers.
Wojcik said he sympathizes with the commission’s task, but is also concerned as a ratepayer about the cost of the work and debt payback including interest.
The commission is scheduled to finish $84 million in combined sewer overflow projects by 2011, but will still have approximately $300 million in additional mandated projects in future years, according to commission spokeswoman Katherine J. Pedersen. That work is in addition to ongoing projects to maintain, clean and repair water and sewer systems, much of which is a century old, she said.
The second hearing attendee, Sheila McElwaine of Meredith Street in Forest Park, asked the commission to ensure that a contractor repairing a water transmission line in the North End take better care of the area, particularly near a walkway-bikeway that abuts the Connecticut River.
