Hi all,

I continue to hear from Newton residents about their outrageous catch up bills and what recommendations I have for them.  When I met with the Mayor and the city council late last year and earlier this year, I was able to get a few concessions:

• 12 months to pay off the bill
• Normalizing the costs of the water bills over the four year period
• Proof in the form of a picture of the final reading from the city when they removed the old meter

But the city also agreed to investigate whether these catch up bills presented a surplus to the city and whether that surplus could provide some relief in the form of an abatement and/or lower water rates moving forward.  I have yet to hear back on this front.

I shared with the city that Newton's water rates are 41% higher than the average MWRA community.  The Mayor justified the expense due to the ongoing project to upgrade the 100s of miles of pipes that date back to the early 1900s.  However this project has been ongoing for years and would like to understand the time frame for completion and what this will mean to the future water rates in the city.

I personally am one more payment away from paying off my $10k catch up bill but recently received a $1700 water bill for the last three month cycle with my new water meter.  After my mortgage and credit card bills, water is the third biggest monthly expense in my household.  How is this possible?

What can we do?

If you would like the Mayor to know this is not right, please write to her! Rfuller@newtonma.gov

I'm trying to get a followup meeting with the city council and utility department to understand the impact of the catch up revenue. It would be good to get others to participate when this meeting takes place.

We can always go the legal path but that requires funding and support..

Welcome thoughts.

Marc