Stormwater Enterprise Fund proposed to increase at December town meeting

The Warrant Committee met last week to to discuss articles that will go before Town Meeting in December.

A proposed budget article will adjust the Stormwater Enterprise Fund. Increased costs of trash collection includes it being more expensive to collect yard waste. Yard waste collection, however, is paid for out of the Stormwater Enterprise Fund.

The budget for yard waste originally was $858,000. That estimate was before the new trash/recycling/yard waste contract was signed. The actual cost of yard waste collection is $1.008 million according to DPW Director Chase Berkley.

Stormwater Enterprise is funded through its own fee. It is a tiered system based on square footage of non-permeable space in a property. The current gross estimated rate is $1.88 per 100 square feet. That fee will have to be increased to approximately $2.39 per 100 square feet.

Berkeley said that a Tier 1 house currently pays about $32 in stormwater fees. That will increase to $41. A Tier 4.3 property that pays $468 now will pay $537 if the article passes Town Meeting this December.

The Board of Selectmen, at its November 13, 2017 meeting, voted unanimously to approve the FY18 Stormwater Utility Fee Rates for residential properties as follows:

– Contributed by Doug Scibeck.