Longmeadow sewer rate calculations pose more problems than originally expected

Aug. 18, 2022 | Sarah Heinonen
sheinonen@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW – After a year of quarterly sewer billing and data collection, the Longmeadow Select Board was informed that its plan for winter averaging would “create more problems than it would solve,” as Select Board Vice Chair Mark Gold put it.

A representative from Munis, the municipal software company used by the town, presented the data and how the automated system would calculate the quarterly averages. First, she explained that a unit is 748.5 gallons of water and users are currently charged for sewer use based on the water units that come through their meter. Usage is capped at 220 units, with the assumption that anything over that amount is likely used for irrigation and therefore does not run through the sewer system.
Winter averaging would do away with the cap and, instead, take the number of units used during cold weather periods when irrigation is not a factor, and assume that is the amount of water that goes through the sewer system during irrigation-prone periods.

The purpose is to make sure that users are only paying sewer charges for the water units that go into the sewer system. Longmeadow switched to a quarterly billing cycle in 2021 to allow for winter averaging. When the system was first proposed by Gold and former Select Board member Richard Foster, a five-month average was chosen as the ideal, but the Munis representative explained that a five-month average could only be calculated if the town charged residents for sewer monthly, rather than quarterly or semiannually, as it had been charging. Generating, mailing, and processing sewer bills every month would cost the town approximately $40,000 more per year, Interim Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk told the board.

Instead, in the example presented, a home would use an average of four units for the quarter between October and December and three units averaged between January to March. The system would take the quarters from October through March and average those quarters: 4+3=7, divided by 2= 3.5. The system would automatically round the number down to a whole number, resulting in three units as the winter average. Three units would then be used for assumed sewer volume during the summer quarters. The metered amount would be charged for the water bill.

The Munis representative estimated that sewer bills would increase by 39 percent due to fewer overall units sharing the cost of running the sewer system.

She said that any zeros in the data, representing “snowbirds” who spend the winter months in warmer locales, would be dropped from calculation. So, in a month in which a home used 3 units in October, zero units in November and zero units in December, the quarter would be calculated as 3+0+0=3, divided by 1, resulting in 3 units, rather than dividing it by all three months, resulting in an average of 1 unit for the quarter.

Gold also pointed out that users who do not use much water in the winter could be under-charged for summer months because six months – two quarters – of data changes the calculations as opposed to five months. Select Board Clerk Dan Zwirko suggested using a different service since Munis’s system was unable to charge residents for five months. Town Manager Lyn Simmons explained that all the town’s services are run through Munis, and it would be arduous to outsource one service.

“I’m no longer happy with the solution we came up with,” Gold told his colleagues. Instead of people being unfairly charged for water which never entered the sewer, this system will charge users less than their fair share, he said. Instead, he suggested incrementally lowering the 220-unit cap until the town found a limit that more accurately represents irrigation use.

The Munis representative also noted various municipalities use minimum usage calculations, as well as flat rates, rather than tying the bill to usage. Simmons noted some communities set a percentage of water usage that is billed as sewer usage.

Select Board Chair Joshua Levine commented, “I don’t want to unfairly treat the low users.”

Zwirko asked if a tiered system could be implemented. While it could work for water rates, Gold told his colleague, “I have no idea how you would tier sewer rates.”

Simmons told the board that she had suggested a water/sewer rate study last year, before the winter averaging system was designed by Gold and Foster. She said professional help was still needed. The estimate in 2021 was less than $20,000.Select board member Thomas Lachiusa opined that the study would suggest secondary meters, but Gold discounted that option.

Middle School Building Committee

Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea brought the formation of a Middle School Building Committee to the Select Board. A subcommittee of the School Committee had drafted a Building Committee structure with nine voting members and other advisory positions. One Select Board member will join the committee and the board will choose two “at-large” committee members who have experience in architecture, engineering or construction. The rest of the committee will be made up of School Committee members, people familiar with school facilities and the educational mission and representation from other key stakeholders.

O’Shea and Simmons explained that the committee applications must be received by Aug. 31. They also emphasized that the position is a significant commitment of time, spanning up to four years.

Gold “strongly encouraged” the board to carefully select the members of the committee because a school building committee has “scads of autonomy.” He also suggested turning to those who had served on the high school building committee, as they are known to be qualified and know what to expect.
Lachiusa encouraged people to take advantage of the opportunity to “move education forward.”

Town Clerk

Timothy Donnelly was appointed as the new town clerk. Simmons told the board that Donnelly had been the financial officer for the West Springfield Housing Authority since 2015 and had experience as the executive director of Ludlow Community TV before that.

Donnelly also had an educational background in business administration and served in the Marine Corps.

Zwirko asked why Donnelly wanted to be Town Clerk. The latter responded that he had worked at the state level and wanted to get back into municipal government.

Lachiusa asked Donnelly about experience with voting processes. While he admitted he had no direct experience, he said he has worked in multiple municipal boards and committees over the years. Lachiusa then noted the town has “seasoned folks,” who can assist with the learning curve.

Gold said record keeping is just as important to the position of town clerk as voting and asked about Donnelly’s experience with records. Donnelly told him that in the accounting world, records are essential because auditing is standard. He also commented, “When you’re working for the government, you better keep good records. With the polarization of the country,” Donnelly said one must be “as transparent as possible.”

Drought

Longmeadow is now in a “Level Three – Critical” drought, Levine said, adding that the town needs to reduce water consumption by 20 percent, or 720,000 gallons per day to bring the water tower back to an average level. “We can’t fight fires,” without appropriate water pressure, he said. Simmons said she had been on a conference call with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and learned that firefighters in the eastern part of the state had been unable to extinguish some fires for more than two months due to inadequate water supply.

Simmons shared that without a bylaw in place, no mandatory water conservation efforts could be enforced. She said her office was exploring a “stripped-down” version of the water use bylaw that had been abandoned due to controversy prior to the Annual Town Meeting in May. The bylaw would be brought to voters at the Oct. 26 Special Town Meeting.

Fallen Trees

Simmons announced that the Department of Public Works (DPW) would be following a standard protocol when town-owned trees fall. She said any portion of the tree blocking the street or that fell on town property would be cleaned up by the town, but if a tree falls into a resident’s yard it will be the homeowner’s responsibility to clear it. The exception to this rule is if the tree fell from rotting and the town had been notified of the dying tree prior to its fall.
Until now, various divisions within the DPW were following different guidelines. The uniform policy is effective immediately.

Resident comment

Resident Larry Goldberg asked the board to ensure the town’s rules are enforced uniformly. He said he built an expensive garage to house his commercial vehicle, but sees other vehicles parked in the open. People continue to park commercial vehicles in driveways and on the street despite fines, he said.

Goldberg also expressed concern about the new grievance procedure that does not allow for anonymous complaints. He recounted an incident in the past in which a neighbor learned Goldberg had lodged a complaint and came to his home. Goldberg said he had to call the police because the person would not leave.

Resident David Marinelli told the board that over $1 million in the Community Preservation Committee’s Affordable Housing account has gone unused. Longmeadow is not affordable to many, Marinelli said and was interested in ideas from the Select Board.

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