Fiscal Year 2027 Sewer Rates.

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B. (ID # 2026-1214): Fiscal Year 2027 Sewer Rates. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Finocchiaro Seconded by Councilor Williams All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None IV. ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn the public hearing made by Councilor Finocchiaro at 8:03 PM Seconded by Councilor WIlliams All were in favor and public hearing was adjourned 3 WATER AND SEWER RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CITY OF MELROSE Ken Truesdale, Resident Representative, Chair Melrose City Yard, 72 Tremont Street Kathryn Armata, Treasurer/Collector Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 Kerri Golden, CFO/Auditor Elizabeth Kowal, City Council Representative Telephone - (781) 665-0142 Jim O’Loughlin, Resident Representative Elena Proakis Ellis, P.E., Director of Public Works Jay Coy, Acting City Engineer MEMORANDUM To: Melrose City Council From: Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee cc. Mayor Jen Grigoraitis James Troup, DPW Lisa Patterson, DPW Jennifer Rosa, DPW, Water and Sewer Committee Clerk Date: April 8, 2026 Re: Summary of FY27 Water and Sewer Rate Orders The Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee, consisting of the members listed above, respectfully submits the following water and sewer rate recommendations for FY27. They are recommended by unanimous vote of the committee. The FY27 revenue requirements for the water and sewer enterprise funds can be met using the FY26 water and sewer rates, with no increases to either volumetric rates or base fees. The FY27 rates benefit from modest increases in the MWRA water and sewer assessments and lower debt repayment obligations in FY27 in the sewer fund compared to FY26. The sewer assessment has only increased moderately due to continued reductions in sewer flows resulting from the City’s ongoing efforts to remove extraneous flows (groundwater infiltration and rainwater inflow) from the sanitary sewer system. As you may recall from prior years, we target reserve fund balances of 10% of annual operating expenses for each fund. Based on the budgeted revenue requirements for FY27, the reserve funds are presently at just over 10% of each fund’s operating budget, thus no transfers are recommended into the water and sewer reserve funds for FY27. Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee Recommendations Page 2 April 8, 2026 Thus far in FY26, water use has met or exceeded our projections in last year’s rate model. As a result, the water and sewer enterprise funds are projected to have sufficient revenue to cover expenses as we come to the close of FY26. Therefore, we are not recommending any retained earnings be used this year to cover revenue shortfalls. With no proposed changes to the water and sewer rates for FY27, the recommended rates are shown below, matching FY25 and FY26 rates. Proposed FY27 Water and Sewer Rates Proposed FY26 Volumetric Rates Water (per 100 cf) Sewer (per 100 cf) Tier 1 $8.32 $12.25 Tier 2 $11.15 $15.43 Proposed FY26 Base Fees (meter size) Water (per meter) Sewer (per meter) 5/8” $20.33 $26.38 3/4” $20.33 $26.38 1” $20.33 $26.38 1.5” $79.53 $103.58 2” $123.93 $161.48 3” $227.53 $296.58 4” $375.53 $489.58 6” $745.53 $972.08 $20.33 2nd Meter Fee -- ($50.00 if not upgraded) In addition to these rates, the Committee respectfully recommends the following: 1. No transfers to reserves from either water or sewer free cash for FY27, as noted above. 2. A free cash allocation from the Sewer Enterprise Fund in the amount of $150,000 for a downpayment on the replacement of the City’s Vactor truck. No free cash is requested from the Water Enterprise Fund at this time. 3. No recommended changes to ordinance language in Section 228, Water, Sewer, and Drains pertaining to rates. The Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee submitted a memo in April 2025 related to water and sewer discount programs. Our committee is continuing our work evaluating options for the future of these programs. Although we are not making any recommendations at this time regarding acting on the items covered in the memo, it is attached hereto, for the information of the City Council, especially for the benefit of new members of the Council. We appreciate your consideration of these items and are happy to answer any questions you may have. We look forward to continuing the important work of our committee in FY27 to provide fiscally responsible and sustainable water and sewer rates for the Melrose community. WATER AND SEWER RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CITY OF MELROSE Ken Truesdale, Resident Representative, Chair Melrose City Yard, 72 Tremont Street Kathryn Armata, Treasurer/Collector Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 Kerri Golden, CFO/Auditor Ward Hamilton, City Council Representative Telephone - (781) 665-0142 Jim O’Loughlin, Resident Representative Elena Proakis Ellis, P.E., Director of Public Works Vacant, City Engineer MEMORANDUM To: Melrose City Council From: Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee cc. Mayor Jen Grigoraitis James Troup, DPW Donna Cardillo, DPW Lisa Patterson, DPW Date: April 17, 2025 Re: FY26 Water and Sewer Discount Program Recommendations During the FY25 rate setting process, the Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee initiated discussions about the City’s present discount programs for both low income residents and for senior citizens. As a result of this discussion, recommendations were made last year to enact the following changes: • Changing the low-income water and sewer discount thresholds from $15,000 and $23,000 (single and married gross income) to $35,000 and $40,000, respectively, with annual water consumption not to exceed 6,250 cubic feet. There were previously no households that qualified for the low-income water and sewer discount. • Allowing the existing condo discount to be extended to owner-occupied two-family properties owned by senior citizens, matching the dollar value of the condo discount (currently $146/year), provided that the same water usage thresholds used for the condo discount are met. While many other changes to the water and sewer discount programs were discussed, the committee unanimously agreed that further study was prudent before additional recommendations were made. The Committee agreed to evaluate options further during FY25. Update on Discount Programs Page 2 April 17, 2025 Based on last year’s updates, our current discount programs are as follows: Current Water and Sewer Discounts We presently have a 20% water and sewer bill discount that applies to owner-occupied, single or two-family properties, using under 6,250 cubic feet of water per year, with working, upgraded water meters. This discount applies to: • All qualifying property owners over the age of 65, and • Qualifying property owners of any age earning less than $35,000 gross income (for those filing taxes as “single”) or $40,000 gross income (for those filing taxes as “married” filing jointly) This means that the current water and sewer discounts for seniors are not tied to income level. We have 667 households presently receiving the senior citizen water and sewer discounts. We also have another 85 senior households who receive this discount who live in condos. Based on last year’s updates, we continue to have no non-senior households receiving the low-income discount. Current Solid Waste and Recycling Fee (“Trash Fee”) Discounts All of our trash fee discount programs are income-based. There are currently two ways to qualify for the trash fee discounts: • All residents, regardless of age, with a gross income of $65,870 or less (single) or $75,280 or less (married) are eligible for a 50% discount on the trash fee. • All residents, regardless of age, with a gross income of $55,000 or less (single) or $65,000 or less (married) are eligible for a 100% discount on the trash fee. These numbers were increased last year based on a City Council order to more closely match HUD income levels for “very low” income. We presently have 99 senior households who receive the 100% trash fee discount, four non-senior households who receive the 100% discount, and 103 senior households who receive the 50% discount, with no non-senior households. Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds Note that the Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds function independently from the City’s general fund. Rates are set each year to ensure that the enterprise funds are each self-sufficient. Any discounts that are given for water usage are deducted from the modeled revenue in the water fund, and similarly any discounts on sewer usage are deducted from the sewer fund. (The Solid Waste and Recycling Enterprise Fund similarly acts independently, and any discounts from the trash fee are absorbed within that fund.) Thus, these discounts are factored into the rates set for each utility and are subsidized by all users of the utility for which the discount was given. Update on Discount Programs Page 3 April 17, 2025 Discount Program Subcommittee Following last year’s discussion, the Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee established a subgroup of members and advisory staff to develop recommendations for the discount programs moving forward. Central to the subcommittee’s discussion was a desire to direct the City’s discount programs toward the people who need them most. For the low-income discount, the subcommittee acknowledged a need to raise the income thresholds to levels that allow for more low-income residents to participate, in place of levels that were so low that nobody qualified. For the senior discount, there was a robust discussion about whether all seniors should be eligible to receive the discounts, or just those in financial need. In order to fully evaluate these questions and develop recommendations, the subcommittee reviewed discount programs in other MWRA communities. Focusing on the 14 fully-served (water and sewer) MWRA communities with the highest combined rates: • Four have no senior discount program. • Seven have senior discount programs that are based on income thresholds. • Three (including Melrose) have senior discount programs with no income thresholds. In looking at the entire MWRA service area: • 48% of communities have no discount programs, • 28% have only senior discounts, • 12% have both senior and low-income discounts, and • 12% have only low-income discounts. The subcommittee agreed that it would be ideal to have income thresholds that are tied to a regional metric that increases with inflation, so that we do not have to reevaluate our thresholds from year to year. The subcommittee also agreed that the ease of implementation for City staff is a critical consideration, and ideally income thresholds would be either consistent with those established for the trash program to streamline the billing process by avoiding the use of multiple income thresholds, or, as appropriate, tied to existing senior tax break programs, to eliminate the task of separately evaluating income levels. Presently all senior discount holders are only required to show proof of their age for the water and sewer discount, while all applicants are required to prove income levels for the trash discounts. The subcommittee presented its findings to the Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee over the last several months, and the Committee developed the following recommendations. Update on Discount Programs Page 4 April 17, 2025 Recommendations The Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee recommends the following modifications to the existing water and sewer discount programs to the City Council for consideration: • Adjust the low-income water and sewer discount income thresholds to match those approved by the City Council last year for the 100% trash discount. Specifically, the low-income discount thresholds would be $55,000 (single) and $65,000 (married). These numbers were selected by the City Council for the 100% trash discount as they are close to the HUD “very low income” values. • While the Committee would ideally prefer thresholds that change annually along with regional metrics, the HUD values have seen some significant increases in recent years (some years around 10%). Given the need to keep the discount programs small enough that there are not unwanted impacts to other ratepayers, we recommend continuing to monitor the HUD numbers, to determine if it’s appropriate to switch to their use in FY27, after one more year of monitoring. This year of monitoring will also allow us to better ascertain the number of new participants and assess the overall cost of the discounts. • Move toward a needs-based senior discount program for the following reasons: o A needs-based approach is consistent with most MWRA communities that have a discount program. o If the City did not have discount programs, and we were to start one today, we would be unlikely to apply it to residents who do not have a financial need. o We have concerns about the long-term costs of the program. These costs are paid by other property owners who subsidize the cost of the discounts through higher rates. • The revised discount program is recommended to apply to seniors who qualify for the 41A, 41C, or Circuit Breaker real estate tax assistance programs. The discount could be automatically applied to all seniors who meet the income thresholds for these programs, provided that they also meet the City’s 6,250 cf/year water usage thresholds. Note that the income thresholds for several of these programs, in particular the Senior Circuit Breaker, are somewhat higher than the HUD very low-income values; thus the program would remain advantageous for more senior citizen households than if the City had solely the low-income program. The inclusion of the Senior Circuit Breaker as an income threshold would make Melrose’s senior discount program more generous than all of the other senior income thresholds surveyed. • In order to move toward these need-based thresholds for senior citizens, we recommend that, at some point, new applicants to the senior discount program should be required to meet the above-listed thresholds. This could be implemented starting in FY27 or later, to provide time for education and adjustment. Update on Discount Programs Page 5 April 17, 2025 • Existing senior citizens receiving the senior discount could remain “grandfathered” into the program, either permanently or for a specified time period. Factors to consider include giving existing participants time to adjust while at the same time being fair to those seniors newly turning 65 who would no longer be eligible to participate as a result of the changes to the program. The Committee suggests five years may be a good middle ground for phasing out those who do not have a financial need using either the low-income criteria or the state’s real estate tax assistance criteria. Implementation of these recommendations would result in the following actions: • The low-income thresholds would be increased to $65,000 (married) and $55,000 (single), starting on October 1, 2025. • Starting on October 1, 2026, all senior applicants to the discount programs would have to demonstrate financial need through existing tax assistance programs. • Starting on October 1, 2031, seniors who cannot demonstrate financial need would no longer be included in the water and sewer discount program. In summary, these proposed revisions: • Provide rate-payer funded discounts to those with demonstrated need, consistent with the majority of communities surveyed, • Increase need-based thresholds over current levels, • Streamline the approval and administration of the water and sewer discount program by aligning eligibility thresholds with those of other City-administered programs, and • Better align discount eligibility with need-based thresholds that adjust for inflation in accordance with programs established by third parties (i.e., Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR)). The Committee welcomes feedback from the City Council on these recommendations and looks forward to answering any questions at the Water and Sewer Rate hearings during the FY26 budget hearings. Thank you for your consideration of these important matters. WATER AND SEWER RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CITY OF MELROSE Ken Truesdale, Resident Representative, Chair Melrose City Yard, 72 Tremont Street Kathryn Armata, Treasurer/Collector Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 Kerri Golden, CFO/Auditor Elizabeth Kowal, City Council Representative Telephone - (781) 665-0142 Jim O’Loughlin, Resident Representative Elena Proakis Ellis, P.E., Director of Public Works Jay Coy, Acting City Engineer MEMORANDUM To: Melrose City Council From: Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee cc. Mayor Jen Grigoraitis James Troup, DPW Lisa Patterson, DPW Jennifer Rosa, DPW, Water and Sewer Committee Clerk Date: April 8, 2026 Re: Summary of FY27 Water and Sewer Rate Orders The Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee, consisting of the members listed above, respectfully submits the following water and sewer rate recommendations for FY27. They are recommended by unanimous vote of the committee. The FY27 revenue requirements for the water and sewer enterprise funds can be met using the FY26 water and sewer rates, with no increases to either volumetric rates or base fees. The FY27 rates benefit from modest increases in the MWRA water and sewer assessments and lower debt repayment obligations in FY27 in the sewer fund compared to FY26. The sewer assessment has only increased moderately due to continued reductions in sewer flows resulting from the City’s ongoing efforts to remove extraneous flows (groundwater infiltration and rainwater inflow) from the sanitary sewer system. As you may recall from prior years, we target reserve fund balances of 10% of annual operating expenses for each fund. Based on the budgeted revenue requirements for FY27, the reserve funds are presently at just over 10% of each fund’s operating budget, thus no transfers are recommended into the water and sewer reserve funds for FY27. Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee Recommendations Page 2 April 8, 2026 Thus far in FY26, water use has met or exceeded our projections in last year’s rate model. As a result, the water and sewer enterprise funds are projected to have sufficient revenue to cover expenses as we come to the close of FY26. Therefore, we are not recommending any retained earnings be used this year to cover revenue shortfalls. With no proposed changes to the water and sewer rates for FY27, the recommended rates are shown below, matching FY25 and FY26 rates. Proposed FY27 Water and Sewer Rates Proposed FY26 Volumetric Rates Water (per 100 cf) Sewer (per 100 cf) Tier 1 $8.32 $12.25 Tier 2 $11.15 $15.43 Proposed FY26 Base Fees (meter size) Water (per meter) Sewer (per meter) 5/8” $20.33 $26.38 3/4” $20.33 $26.38 1” $20.33 $26.38 1.5” $79.53 $103.58 2” $123.93 $161.48 3” $227.53 $296.58 4” $375.53 $489.58 6” $745.53 $972.08 $20.33 2nd Meter Fee -- ($50.00 if not upgraded) In addition to these rates, the Committee respectfully recommends the following: 1. No transfers to reserves from either water or sewer free cash for FY27, as noted above. 2. A free cash allocation from the Sewer Enterprise Fund in the amount of $150,000 for a downpayment on the replacement of the City’s Vactor truck. No free cash is requested from the Water Enterprise Fund at this time. 3. No recommended changes to ordinance language in Section 228, Water, Sewer, and Drains pertaining to rates. The Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee submitted a memo in April 2025 related to water and sewer discount programs. Our committee is continuing our work evaluating options for the future of these programs. Although we are not making any recommendations at this time regarding acting on the items covered in the memo, it is attached hereto, for the information of the City Council, especially for the benefit of new members of the Council. We appreciate your consideration of these items and are happy to answer any questions you may have. We look forward to continuing the important work of our committee in FY27 to provide fiscally responsible and sustainable water and sewer rates for the Melrose community. WATER AND SEWER RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CITY OF MELROSE Ken Truesdale, Resident Representative, Chair Melrose City Yard, 72 Tremont Street Kathryn Armata, Treasurer/Collector Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 Kerri Golden, CFO/Auditor Ward Hamilton, City Council Representative Telephone - (781) 665-0142 Jim O’Loughlin, Resident Representative Elena Proakis Ellis, P.E., Director of Public Works Vacant, City Engineer MEMORANDUM To: Melrose City Council From: Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee cc. Mayor Jen Grigoraitis James Troup, DPW Donna Cardillo, DPW Lisa Patterson, DPW Date: April 17, 2025 Re: FY26 Water and Sewer Discount Program Recommendations During the FY25 rate setting process, the Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee initiated discussions about the City’s present discount programs for both low income residents and for senior citizens. As a result of this discussion, recommendations were made last year to enact the following changes: • Changing the low-income water and sewer discount thresholds from $15,000 and $23,000 (single and married gross income) to $35,000 and $40,000, respectively, with annual water consumption not to exceed 6,250 cubic feet. There were previously no households that qualified for the low-income water and sewer discount. • Allowing the existing condo discount to be extended to owner-occupied two-family properties owned by senior citizens, matching the dollar value of the condo discount (currently $146/year), provided that the same water usage thresholds used for the condo discount are met. While many other changes to the water and sewer discount programs were discussed, the committee unanimously agreed that further study was prudent before additional recommendations were made. The Committee agreed to evaluate options further during FY25. Update on Discount Programs Page 2 April 17, 2025 Based on last year’s updates, our current discount programs are as follows: Current Water and Sewer Discounts We presently have a 20% water and sewer bill discount that applies to owner-occupied, single or two-family properties, using under 6,250 cubic feet of water per year, with working, upgraded water meters. This discount applies to: • All qualifying property owners over the age of 65, and • Qualifying property owners of any age earning less than $35,000 gross income (for those filing taxes as “single”) or $40,000 gross income (for those filing taxes as “married” filing jointly) This means that the current water and sewer discounts for seniors are not tied to income level. We have 667 households presently receiving the senior citizen water and sewer discounts. We also have another 85 senior households who receive this discount who live in condos. Based on last year’s updates, we continue to have no non-senior households receiving the low-income discount. Current Solid Waste and Recycling Fee (“Trash Fee”) Discounts All of our trash fee discount programs are income-based. There are currently two ways to qualify for the trash fee discounts: • All residents, regardless of age, with a gross income of $65,870 or less (single) or $75,280 or less (married) are eligible for a 50% discount on the trash fee. • All residents, regardless of age, with a gross income of $55,000 or less (single) or $65,000 or less (married) are eligible for a 100% discount on the trash fee. These numbers were increased last year based on a City Council order to more closely match HUD income levels for “very low” income. We presently have 99 senior households who receive the 100% trash fee discount, four non-senior households who receive the 100% discount, and 103 senior households who receive the 50% discount, with no non-senior households. Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds Note that the Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds function independently from the City’s general fund. Rates are set each year to ensure that the enterprise funds are each self-sufficient. Any discounts that are given for water usage are deducted from the modeled revenue in the water fund, and similarly any discounts on sewer usage are deducted from the sewer fund. (The Solid Waste and Recycling Enterprise Fund similarly acts independently, and any discounts from the trash fee are absorbed within that fund.) Thus, these discounts are factored into the rates set for each utility and are subsidized by all users of the utility for which the discount was given. Update on Discount Programs Page 3 April 17, 2025 Discount Program Subcommittee Following last year’s discussion, the Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee established a subgroup of members and advisory staff to develop recommendations for the discount programs moving forward. Central to the subcommittee’s discussion was a desire to direct the City’s discount programs toward the people who need them most. For the low-income discount, the subcommittee acknowledged a need to raise the income thresholds to levels that allow for more low-income residents to participate, in place of levels that were so low that nobody qualified. For the senior discount, there was a robust discussion about whether all seniors should be eligible to receive the discounts, or just those in financial need. In order to fully evaluate these questions and develop recommendations, the subcommittee reviewed discount programs in other MWRA communities. Focusing on the 14 fully-served (water and sewer) MWRA communities with the highest combined rates: • Four have no senior discount program. • Seven have senior discount programs that are based on income thresholds. • Three (including Melrose) have senior discount programs with no income thresholds. In looking at the entire MWRA service area: • 48% of communities have no discount programs, • 28% have only senior discounts, • 12% have both senior and low-income discounts, and • 12% have only low-income discounts. The subcommittee agreed that it would be ideal to have income thresholds that are tied to a regional metric that increases with inflation, so that we do not have to reevaluate our thresholds from year to year. The subcommittee also agreed that the ease of implementation for City staff is a critical consideration, and ideally income thresholds would be either consistent with those established for the trash program to streamline the billing process by avoiding the use of multiple income thresholds, or, as appropriate, tied to existing senior tax break programs, to eliminate the task of separately evaluating income levels. Presently all senior discount holders are only required to show proof of their age for the water and sewer discount, while all applicants are required to prove income levels for the trash discounts. The subcommittee presented its findings to the Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee over the last several months, and the Committee developed the following recommendations. Update on Discount Programs Page 4 April 17, 2025 Recommendations The Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee recommends the following modifications to the existing water and sewer discount programs to the City Council for consideration: • Adjust the low-income water and sewer discount income thresholds to match those approved by the City Council last year for the 100% trash discount. Specifically, the low-income discount thresholds would be $55,000 (single) and $65,000 (married). These numbers were selected by the City Council for the 100% trash discount as they are close to the HUD “very low income” values. • While the Committee would ideally prefer thresholds that change annually along with regional metrics, the HUD values have seen some significant increases in recent years (some years around 10%). Given the need to keep the discount programs small enough that there are not unwanted impacts to other ratepayers, we recommend continuing to monitor the HUD numbers, to determine if it’s appropriate to switch to their use in FY27, after one more year of monitoring. This year of monitoring will also allow us to better ascertain the number of new participants and assess the overall cost of the discounts. • Move toward a needs-based senior discount program for the following reasons: o A needs-based approach is consistent with most MWRA communities that have a discount program. o If the City did not have discount programs, and we were to start one today, we would be unlikely to apply it to residents who do not have a financial need. o We have concerns about the long-term costs of the program. These costs are paid by other property owners who subsidize the cost of the discounts through higher rates. • The revised discount program is recommended to apply to seniors who qualify for the 41A, 41C, or Circuit Breaker real estate tax assistance programs. The discount could be automatically applied to all seniors who meet the income thresholds for these programs, provided that they also meet the City’s 6,250 cf/year water usage thresholds. Note that the income thresholds for several of these programs, in particular the Senior Circuit Breaker, are somewhat higher than the HUD very low-income values; thus the program would remain advantageous for more senior citizen households than if the City had solely the low-income program. The inclusion of the Senior Circuit Breaker as an income threshold would make Melrose’s senior discount program more generous than all of the other senior income thresholds surveyed. • In order to move toward these need-based thresholds for senior citizens, we recommend that, at some point, new applicants to the senior discount program should be required to meet the above-listed thresholds. This could be implemented starting in FY27 or later, to provide time for education and adjustment. Update on Discount Programs Page 5 April 17, 2025 • Existing senior citizens receiving the senior discount could remain “grandfathered” into the program, either permanently or for a specified time period. Factors to consider include giving existing participants time to adjust while at the same time being fair to those seniors newly turning 65 who would no longer be eligible to participate as a result of the changes to the program. The Committee suggests five years may be a good middle ground for phasing out those who do not have a financial need using either the low-income criteria or the state’s real estate tax assistance criteria. Implementation of these recommendations would result in the following actions: • The low-income thresholds would be increased to $65,000 (married) and $55,000 (single), starting on October 1, 2025. • Starting on October 1, 2026, all senior applicants to the discount programs would have to demonstrate financial need through existing tax assistance programs. • Starting on October 1, 2031, seniors who cannot demonstrate financial need would no longer be included in the water and sewer discount program. In summary, these proposed revisions: • Provide rate-payer funded discounts to those with demonstrated need, consistent with the majority of communities surveyed, • Increase need-based thresholds over current levels, • Streamline the approval and administration of the water and sewer discount program by aligning eligibility thresholds with those of other City-administered programs, and • Better align discount eligibility with need-based thresholds that adjust for inflation in accordance with programs established by third parties (i.e., Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR)). The Committee welcomes feedback from the City Council on these recommendations and looks forward to answering any questions at the Water and Sewer Rate hearings during the FY26 budget hearings. Thank you for your consideration of these important matters.

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