Homeowners in Framingham receive credit for their water bills – city looks to the future
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FRAMINGHAM – The mayor announced at the Aug. 20 City Council meeting that an apartment complex will receive a large credit on its water bill as part of a change to the city’s water billing structure.
Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky said residents of the Windsor Green apartment complex could potentially receive a roughly $300,000 credit on their water bills after complaining about unfairly high bills. The news came days after the city approved an adjustment to residents’ water bills.
“Due to the way the multifamily factor was implemented, Windsor Green will receive a credit of approximately $300,000 on its water bill,” Sisitsky announced at the meeting.
The amount corresponds to the $259,000 in adjustments requested by the complex.
Earlier: Condominium owners in Framingham could expect lower water rates after city approves adjustments
Most residents – 194 out of 200 – receive their bills based on a water meter installed in December 2022. Since then, these residents say they have been paying significantly higher amounts for their water consumption without being informed of the change beforehand.
Following Sisitsky’s report, assembly members erupted in applause. It is currently unclear when the adjustment will be announced, but Sisitsky indicated that the City Council will discuss it again at the September meeting.
How are Framingham residents billed for their water usage?
Framingham calculates water usage based on the number of “units” of water each property uses, using a tiered system. The more units of water a property uses (a single unit is 750 gallons), the higher the tier it falls into. The higher the tier, the higher the associated rate.
In the past, a “factor” was applied to multifamily buildings to distinguish them from large industrial or commercial buildings. The factor would divide the building’s total water use by the number of residential units, often resulting in multifamily buildings being classified as Tier 1 properties. — similar to most single-family homes.
“No explanation”: Framingham homeowners want $259,000 to pay their “enormous” water bill
Sisitsky explained that the factor was created after a city council meeting in the late 2000s, before Framingham became a city. However, for seemingly unknown reasons, the factor has been applied inconsistently to complexes.
“For various reasons that nobody knows, because all the people who were involved in some of those previous decisions no longer work for the city, some of the recommendations were followed and some were not,” Sisitsky explained. “There are a number of apartment complexes that get the multifamily factor and some don’t. There are some condo complexes that get it and some don’t.”
Residents of Windsor Green had previously told the Daily News that they had benefited from this formula even before the introduction of the new meter, as their water bills for individual residential units in Windsor Green remained comparable to those of single-family homes.
That changed when the new meter was installed in late 2022 and the factor was eliminated, resulting in the 194 affected Windsor Green condominiums being billed as if they were a large consumer. This resulted in residents being charged a much higher rate per unit.
The 194 Windsor Green units that use the single meter use about 800 units of water per month. However, residents argue that the factor should still apply because each condominium uses an average of only 4 units per month per unit. Category 1 properties are those that use no more than 5 units per month.
Framingham considers changing water bills for all apartments and condos
In recent years, water billing has proven problematic for Framingham. Last year, then-CFO Louise Miller reported that different rates were being charged to different apartment buildings and that rates were being manipulated at the account level.
However, there may be changes to the billing system in Framingham.
The city has hired the consulting firm Weston & Sampson to examine the city’s water billing structure. The consultants are examining the water and wastewater utility’s finances, including debt service and all other operating costs of the department.
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Sisitsky said the consultant and the city are working to create a fairer water billing system. They have developed three possible scenarios that were presented at the city council meeting.
The first scenario would be to eliminate the multifamily housing factor. This would lead to higher costs for apartments and condos that currently have this factor, according to Sisitsky.
The second option is to apply the multifamily factor only to condominium complexes and not to apartment complexes.
The third scenario would be to extend the factor to all apartments and condominium complexes.
