Somerville council approves 18% water and 12% sewer rate increases; council backs billing and stormwater changes

The Somerville City Council approved proposed rates for fiscal 2026, increasing water rates by 18% and sewer rates by 12% and authorizing a package of billing changes the administration said were needed to fund aging infrastructure and major capital projects.

The vote passed 8–2. Councilors Terrence Mbah and Matthew Strezzo recorded “no” votes; eight councilors voted yes and one was absent. The adopted proposal includes the rate increases, a shift from tri-annual to quarterly billing for water and sewer base charges, and the phased implementation of a parcel-based stormwater fee targeted to begin January 1, 2026, the administration said.

Richard Raesch, director of Infrastructure and Asset Management, opened the presentation by acknowledging the city’s long-term capital needs and telling the council, “we’re gonna show you how the sausage was made,” a reference the administration used to describe the transparency of its long-range modeling. He and department staff said most water and sewer budget costs are fixed — principal and interest on past projects and wholesale assessments — and that deferred maintenance and large projects such as Morrison Avenue and the Mystic River outfall require stable revenue.

Kelly Hebert, director of finance and administration for water and sewer, gave an operational overview and cited the department’s workload: “we handle about 51,000 bills are generated from our office. This represents 16,000 of our customer accounts,” she said, noting the department receives roughly 5,000 customer calls annually and is seeking additional staffing to support improved billing and customer service.

Officials said several administrative changes accompany the rate structure: a move to quarterly billing (the annual total would remain the same but be spread across four bills), a simplification of volumetric consumption tiers from five to three, adjusted base-rate scaling to shift more of the burden to larger commercial users, and the mid-year rollout of a stormwater fee based on impervious surface to make billing fairer across customer classes.

The department asked for four new full-time positions to support billing and customer service — two principal clerks and two managers — to implement the new billing structure and the planned stormwater fee. Officials also reported progress on operational work including a meter replacement program they said is 94% complete and over 800 fiscal-tier meter adjustments performed in the past 12 months.

Budget manager Michael Mastroboni walked the council through long-range modeling produced with a consultant, showing the 10-year impacts of different rate choices on cash reserves and debt-service-to-revenue ratios. He and Raesch said the 18%/12% proposal is intended to prevent depletion of the enterprise stabilization fund and to preserve borrowing capacity for major sewer separation and outfall projects. The city’s water-and-sewer stabilization balance was cited at about $20.5 million; a dedicated infiltration-and-inflow fund of roughly $8.3 million was cited as well.

Councilors asked about implementation details. Councilor Klingen asked whether the current base rate would be spread across four quarterly bills; officials confirmed the annual amount is the same and will be divided into four payments. Councilors also probed which specific commercial examples produced large increases under the new stormwater approach; administration staff said those examples were intentionally illustrative of high-impervious sites, such as a large retail parking lot, and not representative of a typical small business.

Councilor Kevin McLaughlin and others pressed for staffing and capacity improvements to bring work in-house where possible; department staff acknowledged reliance on contractors for much of fieldwork and said building internal capacity and hiring a director with infrastructure and staffing experience are priorities. Several councilors said they voted yes reluctantly because the increases fund essential city services and projects that address recurring flooding and public-health risks.

On the narrow question of the vote, the clerk called roll: Councilor Mbah voted no; Councilors Wilson, Ewan Kampen, Scott, McLaughlin, Saeed, Klingen, Davis and Pineda Neufeld voted yes; Councilor Strezzo voted no; one councilor was absent. With eight in favor, two opposed, and one absent, the rates were approved.

What’s next: Officials said the stormwater fee requires additional billing system work and will be implemented only after a mid-year rollout and a public information campaign that the city plans to run in multiple languages. The administration also said it will continue to pursue grant funding where possible and to deploy stabilization funds strategically to limit borrowing costs for major capital projects.