NORTHAMPTON — Water and sewer customers will pay the same rates in the next fiscal year as they do now.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra recommended keeping the rates for 100 cubic feet of water unchanged in the new fiscal year that starts July 1, a plan that won the City Council’s approval last Thursday night.
Customers with one-inch meters or smaller pay a tiered rate for water consumption. Up to 1,600 cubic feet will continue to cost $4.51 per 100 cubic feet and anything over 1,600 cubic feet will still cost $6.09 per 100 cubic feet.
Customers with meters larger than one inch will pay $5.99 per 100 cubic feet for all water use.
Sewer rates for metered and non-metered customers will be $7.86 per 100 cubic feet. For non-metered sewer customers, the usage is considered to be 80% of their metered water consumption.
“We’re not recommending a change to rates this year due to economic uncertainty, but we do need to have a really serious discussion, very soon, about how we are going to fund some of these upcoming projects” planned by the Department of Public Works, Sciarra told the council, “and we also need to talk about the potential impact of Coca-Cola leaving next June.”
The DPW has requested $24.7 million for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant and pump station through the city’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan, in addition to millions for other projects like upgrades to water mains and reservoirs.
In August 2021, the Coca-Cola bottling plant at 45 Industrial Drive announced that it would shut down in summer 2023. At the time, then-mayor David Narkewicz said the facility is the city’s largest water customer “by far.”
On Thursday, DPW Director Donna LaScaleia said the city has contracted with the engineering firm Tighe & Bond to make recommendations for offsetting the loss of Coca-Cola’s contribution to the roughly $13 million collected in water and sewer bills each year.
“This time next year, we will likely be looking at significant offsets to our revenue. Coca-Cola represents roughly a third of our revenue” in both water and sewer, she said. “A third of that revenue is quite significant and we will need to have a good plan moving forward.”
She said the city “must” invest in its utility infrastructure and that “the two water mains on Main Street were actually installed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.”
Before the vote, the council invited public comment. Tracey Culver was the only one who spoke, and she said “thank you” for recommending unchanged rates.
“These rates are difficult for people on fixed incomes and on Social Security, so it’s important if we want to keep our old folks around in Northampton, that we don’t force them out by raising rates like this too high,” Culver said. “But I have a feeling that you’re giving us a year and then you’re going to nail us big time for these huge projects that you’re talking about, so I guess I’m just asking for some continued mercy.”
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.