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 Burroughs moved to approve the flat 5 percent option, prompting Secretary Daniel Daris O'Connor to object that the chair "should have ruled that motion out of order because we're in the middle of a presentation." A motion to reconsider the water vote failed to reach the required two-thirds supermajority. The board also voted 3-2 against a 2 percent sewer option offered by Daris 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 a pending censure resolution, with Attorney Roland stating the board has "no mechanism at all" to discipline an elected official.