Billerica Select Board Votes 3-2 to Raise Water Rates, Approves Sewer Hike

BILLERICA — June 26, 2023 — Billerica Select Board approves water and sewer rate increases 3-2 and hears pitch from battery startup Factorial. The board voted 3-2 on June 26 to raise in-town and out-of-town water rates by 3 percent for fiscal year 2024, with Selectman Michael Rosa and Selectman Burroughs dissenting; a companion 7 percent sewer rate increase passed with broader support. Rosa cited a projected $3.197 million surplus in the water enterprise fund and an expected 41.5 percent drop in water debt service in the near term, arguing the town had "the bandwidth to not do it." Selectman Andrew Deloria and Selectwoman Kim Conway countered that a zero-percent rate in 2021 had simply produced a 10 percent jump the following year. The board also received a capital projects financing presentation from Town Manager John Curran projecting a $95 million bonding program — DPW, recreation center, Council on Aging facility, and town center — at a cumulative 10-year tax impact of approximately $254 per average single-family household. Solid-state battery company Factorial, which has subleased 50,000 square feet in Billerica from ClearMotion and holds partnership agreements with Mercedes, Stellantis, and Hyundai, told the board it is prepared to commit to 130 jobs in town at wages more than double the state average; Curran said a Tax Increment Financing agreement is expected to come before the board in August.