Billerica Select Board Votes 3-2 for Flat Water and Sewer Rate Increases

BILLERICA -- July 14, 2025, Billerica Select Board votes 3-2 to raise water rates 5 percent and sewer rates 7 percent, rejecting tiered alternatives that would have shielded low-end users. Public Works Director Fred Russell and Waterworth consultants presented three scenarios per enterprise fund at the July 14 meeting, targeting $7.6 million in annual water revenue and $2.5 million in sewer capital supported by $3 million and $2.5 million per year in 20-year borrowing at 4.5 percent. A live fourth scenario, 0 percent for the lowest water tier, 3 percent for the middle, 12 percent for commercial top users, was still being modeled when Vice Chair John Burrows moved to approve the flat 5 percent option, prompting another member to object that the chair "should have ruled that motion out of order because we're in the middle of a presentation." Separately, the chair declared a motion to rescind an earlier two-inch water main funding vote lost for lack of a two-thirds supermajority. The board also voted 3-2 against a 2 percent sewer option offered by Darris-O'Connor that would have preserved the existing $2.6 million general fund subsidy. In other business, the board unanimously adopted a $1.2 million order of taking covering 50 properties for Phase 1 of the Yankee Doodle Bike Path and approved a farmer's brewery pouring license for Petty King Brewing Company at 279 Boston Road; member Dina Favreau and her attorney appeared to contest any board action on the investigation findings, with Attorney Roland stating the board has "no mechanism at all" to discipline an elected official.

Correction (Nov. 2, 2026): An earlier version of this story attributed statements by Select Board member Dina Favreau to other members, including her questions on the cable grant and the brewery license, and misstated her position on water rates. It also misstated the outcome of the motion to rescind the two-inch water main funding vote, which drew three votes to two and which the board later acknowledged had passed; attributed remarks on the investigation, on sewer rates and on the economic development policy to the wrong members; described a reconsideration vote that did not take place; and misspelled the names of several members.