Water assessments for Norwood will actually decrease next year, while sewer assessments for all four local towns will increase based on a preliminary budget released last week by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
The authority provides Norwood with water and sewer services. Westwood, Dedham and Walpole get MWRA sewer service only.
The authority's preliminary fiscal 2010 budget, approved by its board of directors, is now in front of its advisory committee and will be finalized in June. The budget calls for an average increase in combined sewer and water assessments of 4.8 percent for next year.
Assessments charged to the towns vary based on usage. Norwood's preliminary water assessment drops 3.6 percent, while its sewer assessment increases 4.5 percent. The preliminary combined assessment represents a 1.5 percent increase or roughly $130,000. Norwood's fiscal 2009 assessment was $8.9 million combined.
Dedham, Walpole and Westwood would see bigger assessment hikes in the proposed budget due to spiraling sewer costs.
Dedham's preliminary assessment is a 4.8 percent increase, or $64,000; Westwood's increase is 6.7 percent, or $132,000; and Walpole's increase is 7.9 percent, or $229,000.
The authority's budget could still change.
A potential pitfall is that the spending plan is predicated on receiving $7 million in debt service assistance from the state. The authority has annually received state money to help offset the costs of major mandated projects such as the Boston Harbor cleanup, but Gov. Deval Patrick cut the money out of the fiscal '09 budget during mid-year reductions.
If the state does not approve the money, authority budget makers will have to make adjustments.
"If that happens, the assessments will likely go up," said Norwood General Manger John Carroll, who is on the authority's board of directors.
But Carroll said if the state money is approved, there is a chance the assessments might come down after further budget tinkering.
The MWRA advisory board discussed the increased assessments at its meeting yesterday. But word that the authority could receive money from the $787 billion federal stimulus tempered talk about the assessments.
"We need to ensure that adequate funding from the stimulus package is dedicated to water resources infrastructure," board member Joseph Favaloro said.
The board also discussed a report on the authority's water trends and use. It said total water usage in Massachusetts, including water sold to the MWRA's 61 communities, was at the lowest rate in decades.
Steve Estes Smargiassi, the authority's planning director, reported that water use had dropped 6 percent, from 220 million gallons per day in 2007 to 206 million last year. The MWRA's current total capacity for its 50 water communities is 300 million gallons per day.
Smargiassi attributed the lower demand to infrastructure repairs, which mean less water leaks away, and that results in the increase in the price for consumers.
Costs continue to climb. The 22 fully served water and sewer communities of the MWRA will see an average increase in combined assessment of 5.3 percent from 2009 to 2010.
According to the authority, its proposed fiscal '10 budget is $603.5 million, representing an average combined water and sewer rate increase of 4.8 percent. The proposed budget recommends a reduction of $5.7 million in the operating budget, although those savings will be eaten up by increase in debt service payments.
The authority has completed $6.8 billion worth of upgrades to its water and sewer systems since 1985, and debt service represents 58 percent its total budget.
Daily News correspondent Rosemary D'Amour contributed to this report.
Staff writer Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or bfalla@cnc.com.
