MWRA Board of Directors
Agree with AB Recommendation to Reduce
Rate Revenue Requirement by $2.5 million
The MWRA Board of Directors held its meeting on June 26th and agreed with the Advisory Board's recommendation to reduce the Rate Revenue Requirement by $2.5 million to achieve an assessment increase of 3.49%.
The rate revenue requirement determines the communities' wholesale water and sewer assessments. Please click here to access the FY14 local assessments.
FY14 represents a significant milestone for both the CIP and the CEB. Below are highlights from the meeting:
- Approved FY14-18 capital spending cap: $791.7 million
- Meets the AB's challenge from last year's recommendations
- Lowest capital spending cap yet
- Final FY14 Capital Improvement Program spending: $150.1 million
- Wastewater spending = 59.2%
- Waterworks spending = 34.9%
- Business and Operations spending = 5.9%
- Final FY14 CEB: $658.4 million
- Combined assessment increase: 3.49%
- Meets Advisory Board's recommended increase (reduced from 3.9% in Proposed CEB)
- Increase achieved by adopting part of the AB's recommended reductions in addition to other spending reductions.
To see the complete list of responses by the MWRA to the AB's recommendations, please click here.
The Advisory Board's review wouldn't be possible without the information, support, and open lines of communication provided by Authority staff. The Advisory Board thanks Authority staff for a transparent, active and engaging budget review process.
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MWRA Advisory Board supports
State Police appeal of clerk's decision
not to issue criminal complaints against alleged
Quabbin trespassers
The MWRA AB recently submitted a letter to the clerk magistrate of Eastern Hampshire District Court to support the Massachusetts State Police appeal to the clerk's decision not to issue criminal complaints against alleged seven Quabbin Reservoir trespassers. The AB requests that a complaint be issued for their trespassing violation and that they be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. At its June 26th meeting, the MWRA Board of Directors also voted to send a letter in support of the state police.
The actions of these seven individuals in trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir after midnight was illegal and it triggered a series of actions that had to be taken by the State Police, Department of Conservation and Recreation Division of Water Supply Protection, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and the FBI. These actions entailed a significant amount of man-hours for the investigation, along with additional testing and evaluation at the Quabbin, which cost tens of thousands of dollars. This not only cost time and money but also caused serious concern amongst the Greater Boston area due to the media coverage surrounding the incident. Lastly, it also triggered communities with their own local sources to ramp up security and monitoring.
This trespassing incident happened at a "critical infrastructure site." The Quabbin Reservoir protects the drinking water for 2.5 million residents of Massachusetts and its consumers expect and trust that it is safe. It is important that this incident does not get swept under the rug.
As of now, the appeal is awaiting judicial review. It is imperative that the court take appropriate actions to assure the public that rules will be enforced and this type of incident will not be tolerated.
If you are interested in viewing the letter the Advisory Board submitted to the Clerk of Court, please click here.
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