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Commissioners approve water/wastewater budgets, set EDU standard and update leak-adjustment policy
Summary
The board approved FY27 water and wastewater enterprise budgets, standardized commercial EDU at 250 gallons per day, adopted a revised water leak adjustment policy tied to the tiered rate structure, and directed staff to proceed with estimated refunds totaling about $446,000.
Worcester County commissioners unanimously approved a package of water and wastewater actions on June 2, including the FY27 enterprise fund budgets, a commercial EDU (equivalent dwelling unit) standardization to 250 gallons per day, revisions to the water leak adjustment policy, and direction to process an estimated $446,000 in customer refunds.
Finance staff summarized enterprise funds that total $28,060,370 in revenues and expenditures, with requested general fund support of $818,701 to cover deficits in several service areas. The commission adopted the water/wastewater budgets without recorded opposition.
On rate structure changes, Director of Environmental Programs Bob Mitchell presented a proposal to standardize commercial EDUs to 250 gallons per day — matching the residential standard adopted in March 2025 — and to revise tiered billing so that customers’ assigned EDUs factor into usage tiers. Mitchell said the change is “flow neutral” and will generally lower total bills while stabilizing revenue and capacity planning. Commissioners approved the change unanimously.
Public Works staff described updates to the county’s water leak adjustment policy to align with the tiered rate structure and to offer relief for unexplained, unusually high bills on a limited timeline (once every 3–5 years depending on circumstances). The policy cleaned up legacy language and reflects new meter and billing practices. Commissioners approved the policy and discussed meter modernization technologies (remote reads, radio registers, phone apps) with an estimated pilot cost of about $1.5 million.
Staff also updated the commission on potential refunds for FY26 usage estimates: updated actuals reduced an earlier estimate from about $462,000 to approximately $446,000 across five service areas; the commission directed staff to proceed with refund scenarios.
What’s next: The FY27 enterprise budgets and billing changes will be implemented by the Department of Environmental Programs and Public Works; staff will pilot meter modernization on a smaller district before broader rollout and report back on costs and outcomes.
