Weston Select Board Approves 10 Percent Water Rate Increase With New Meter Fees

WESTON — September 19, 2024 — Weston Select Board approves 10 percent water rate increase and doubles fixed meter charges. The board voted unanimously at a special September 19 meeting to raise volumetric tier rates to $3.40, $10.20, and $20.40 per hundred cubic feet — roughly a 6 percent increase at each level — while lifting the collective annual fixed meter revenue from $250,000 to roughly $525,000, with the standard three-quarter-inch meter charge set at $100 per year. Town Manager Leon Gaumond and Town Treasurer Susan Kelly presented the restructuring alongside consultant Calvin Coles of Waterworth, who told the board the firm works with "around 250 communities across the country" on similar long-term planning models. The rate change is designed to reduce the Water Enterprise Fund's dependence on variable irrigation revenue — currently 6 percent of customers account for nearly half of all water revenues — and to build reserves ahead of a potential $30 million water storage tank project, which the board's pro forma model showed could be serviced within the Enterprise Fund at roughly 3 percent annual rate increases thereafter, assuming $2 million in unallocated ARPA funds are directed to water infrastructure at the December 3 Select Board meeting.