WEST SPRINGFIELD – The West Springfield Town Council unanimously voted to increase sewer rates during a Nov. 20 meeting as a means to help cover necessary maintenance work. Although the change went into effect on Jan. 1, a recent Facebook thread has ignited a debate over the pros and cons of the decision.

The Council voted 8-0 at the November meeting to implement higher residential, commercial and industrial sewer rates from Jan. 1, 2018 through fiscal year 2020.

On New Year’s Day, the rates doubled from $2.23 per user to $4.46 per user, and will remain for the rest of fiscal 2018. The next increase will begin on July 1. 2019, marking the beginning of fiscal 2020 with rates of $6.24 per user.

The new rates were proposed as a way to address the chronically underfunded Sewer Enterprise Fund. Because of lower sewer rates in the past, any shortcomings from the fund have been passed along to the General Fund – resulting in an incremental increase to the town’s regular tax rate over time.

The purpose of the increase is to facilitate a phased ramp-up of capital spending to a total of $3 million by fiscal year 2020. The council hopes to use the money to focus on a backlog of sewer-related projects.

At the time of the meeting, Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Robert Colson explained that the current rate of $2.23 only covered the brick and mortar part of the sewer infrastructure and “nothing else.” The town has a need for maintaining and repairing seven stations and 650,000 linear feet of infrastructure, he said. Some of the other concerns included access to clean water and a railroad blockage.

However, on Jan. 11, West Springfield resident “Rose Marie” posted a comment into the “West Springfield, MA” Facebook forum, an open forum designed for residents to connect with each other and discuss town-related events, asking why her sewer rates had recently doubled.

“Our sewer rate has doubled! Anyone know the justification behind this? Will the town now allow separate meters for sprinkler systems? TIA,” she wrote.
Susie Klassanos Palmer responded, “This was announced several weeks ago. It is to help pay for improvements that apparently were never considered in years past. This won't be the only increase – due to go up again but don't recall exactly when or ny how much.”

Comments from other residents ensued.

“I understand our infrastructure is aging and improvements have to be paid some how, but there has gotta be a different approach that doesn’t hit homeowners so hard. It’s not residents faults the town didn’t keep up with calculating expenses over the years and is now doing damage control. Taxes go up. Water rates go up. Sewer rates go up. What little increase you get in your salary annually goes to the town or state. You never end up in the green. With all this money coming in now to the sewer fund, I expect to see lots of sewer improvement projects throughout town. They sure as hell better not sit on the money after crying they have no money for maintenance,” Todd Sterlings replied.

Joe Dumont said, “Study was done by the state 20 years ago that said rates needed to rise back then to pay for repairs and improvements to both water supply system and sewage system. 20 years of ‘do nothing’ leadership has led to this.”

“If you read the announcement, the rate goes into effect on January 1, 2018 yet all usage for the last reading in December 2017 is charged the new rate as opposed to the old rate. The billing dept. was directed to charge the new rate because it was billed in 2018 even though the usage was in 2017. I don't agree with that since the rate was not in effect for our last reading. When they bill us should be of no consequence,” wrote Rose Marie, who posted the initial comment.

She also posted, “I agree this was too late in coming but I don't think it should be such a big increase all at once. This might be tough on the elderly and people on fixed incomes.”

Some members, on the other hand, sided with the rate increase.

“Our water and sewer rates have alway been very fair. Lower than agawams as a comparison. But taxes in agawam have been lower. Agawams taxes are creeping up and our water and sewer is much higher. Suppose we are leveling out,” Mike Larvicide commented.

Others encouraged citizens to attend more public meetings.

Laurie Cavanaugh Boatbill wrote, “I've always been amazed at how few people show up at council meetings and public hearings. Councilor Dan O'Brien made the point recently: tax rates are set in December. Budgets and spending are decided on in the spring. That’s the time to show up and make yourself heard.”

During a recent interview with Reminder Publications, West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt said he understands the issue is tough to address, but believes the increase was necessary.

“I am pleased they raised the rates because we’ll actually be able to fix the infrastructure we need to fix and pay back the General Fund with indirect expenses,” he said. “I’m just not as happy with the all-at-once approach.”

The mayor is in charge of handling water rates, but doesn’t have much control over sewer rates, he explained.

Town Council President George D. Condon III explained that the Council debated over two rate-increase scenarios – one with an incremental increase and the one that was implemented.

“No one wants to spend money on the sewers because you can’t see them and realize what condition they’re in,” he said. “So, having talked with the DPW and the issues they run into, we decided the best policy was to bite the bullet and get things fixed. They’ve been neglected for the last 50 years and it’s time we fixed the problem.”

He added that sewer systems don’t have the ability to shut off in the same way that water systems do when problems arise, so the sewer issues are a little more “concerning.”

The DPW adopted a policy a few years ago in which they strived to check sewer lines and other underground infrastructure before re-paving any roads. However, Condon said it became too expensive, forcing the Department to abandon the checks.

“For a while they were able to send cameras down through the pipes and then fix them and then pave the roads, but then they ran out of money pretty quickly,” he said. “So, we know pipes need work but we didn’t have money at the time to fix them, which is what lead the council to create the Sewer Enterprise Fund in the first place.”

Condon said he believes these new rates will put the DPW back on track in terms of maintenance and figuring out what future work needs to be done.

Both the Town Council president and the mayor said West Side residents should use the new rates as an incentive to conserve water – since they are based on usage.

The city plans to tackle a number of infrastructure projects over the next 10-15 years, including routine sewer force main inspections, pipe cleanings and video inspections, wall concrete repairs, drain cleaning and storm drain pipe extensions.

“We have $18 million worth of infrastructure work we’re going to do in spring,” said Reichel. “I hope once people see we’re actually doing something they can better understand why we had to do this increase. While it hurts a bit up front, it’s important to make this investment--the cost to fix something today is much cheaper than in five years.”

In terms of public concern over the increase in billing for the month of December 2017, Reichelt said that once a rate change goes into effect – for either sewer or water – it includes any bills generated after that date.

He said if any residents are concerned over billing or other issues, he encourages them to reach out to local officials.

“In the age of social media, it’s much easier to reach out to local government. We post most of stuff that we’re doing online, and it’s important to pay attention,” he said. “There are certain times of the year where your voice is more timely – like with the budget for example, it’s important o talk about it in May or June. You can sign up to have agendas sent to you, or reach out to councilors or me, we like to hear from people all the time.”

Reichelt said the rates will not go down after fiscal 2020, unless voted otherwise.