Fair Haven approves increase to water and sewer rates after debate over reserves

The Fair Haven Select Board voted Tuesday to raise the towns water and sewer rates after staff said debt-service and past infrastructure repairs are driving costs higher.

At a budget presentation, the Town Manager (Speaker 3) outlined draft figures showing a water rate listed in the presentation as $10.45 and a sewer rate of $16.08; the presenter reported those as increases of about $1.99 and $1.08 per thousand gallons respectively. He also said the average household uses roughly 8,000 gallons per quarter and that the average quarterly bill under the proposed rates would be about $246.92. "A lot of this too is debt payments," the Town Manager said, noting that reserve funds allowed the town to avoid higher-interest borrowing for emergency repairs.

Board members debated the size of the increase and whether the town should draw down reserves or reduce operating costs. Committee member (Speaker 4) said the jump felt large and urged looking for operating savings, while another member argued that failing to fund reserves would result in higher long-term costs. "If you had no reserves, where would we get the money? I'd have to go to the bank and pay 6 percent interest," the Town Manager said. Committee member (Speaker 6) moved to approve the rates "as written," Speaker 5 seconded, and the motion passed.

The board recorded the motion and adopted the schedule of rates and fees for water and sewer. The manager said the rate decision reflects existing debt obligations, planned rehabilitation of treatment infrastructure and the towns current reserve strategy. The board will incorporate rate and fee details into published budget documents and post the rates per municipal notice requirements.