Town Planning Sewer Rate Increase With Tiered Pricing To Charge More For High Usage

A proposed increase to Nantucket’s sewer usage rates could see heavy users paying significantly more on their sewer bills. While rates do change during the summer under the current system, they remain mostly flat, regardless of the amount of water customers use. The new system implements tiers, charging more for high usage - in some cases, more than double the current winter rates.

The town estimates that the rate hikes will increase revenues by roughly 25 percent.

“It's very expensive to run the sewer enterprise fund, and there's a lot of additional upgrades and improvements that need to be made to [the sewer] that are coming,” Finance Director Brian Turbitt said.

According to the town’s website, the current rate is $7.30 per 100 cubic feet from November 1st through April 30th and $9.70 per 100 cubic feet from May 1st through October 31st. Under the new system, by January 2026, rates would start at $10.00 but could get as high as $16.90 for heavy use. The new rate structure will be phased over the next year, with partial implementation potentially beginning this summer. But before implementation can begin, the Select Board must approve the rate changes and tier structure. During its meeting on Wednesday, the board reviewed the proposal but delayed a vote on the matter.

Select Board members raised some concerns about the nature of the rate increase, which the town estimates will actually see around 26 percent of customers paying less on their monthly bills, as the proposal would include a certain amount of water usage, varying by meter size, with the minimum payment.

“This is an improvement in some manner, but it is charging a lot more to a heavier user,” Select Board member Matt Fee said. “If we need a 25 percent increase, I think nobody should get a break. I think that's setting up the wrong incentive. I think the bottom tier should go up a bit.”

Rates were designed to encourage conservation while also generating revenues to fund upcoming projects.

“All that deferred maintenance comes due, and that is the phase we are in,” Fee said. "The bills are coming due, and that is what we are facing right now, is that we have...been in full throttle growth mode without putting money aside for a rainy day, and now all these things are coming due at once.”

The town is in the midst of a $23.2 million project to install a new force sewer main from the downtown area out to the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Facility. The three-year project is being completed by the Robert B. Our Co., Inc., which is installing more than three miles of new force main that has featured night construction, road closures, and paving issues along the route.