Webster Approves 8% Water, 5% Sewer Rate Hikes

Water · Meeting of April 22, 2026

Webster's Water Sewer Commission voted unanimously to raise water rates 8 percent and sewer rates 5 percent for fiscal 2027. Chairman Tom Andrade and commissioners Earl Gabor, Marc Becker and Dan Duteau approved the increases after a Tighe & Bond rate study presentation by senior project manager Hasan Doza, who called the hikes lower than last year's forecast of 10 percent and 15 percent. The new cost per 1,000 cubic feet rises to $114.07 for water and $118.43 for sewer, increases of $8.45 and $5.64.

Doza said about $750,000 in PFAS litigation settlement funds will offset debt service in fiscal 2028, and that a typical household's combined water-sewer bill will run near 5 percent of income, below the firm's 7 percent affordability threshold. Vice Chairman Earl Gabor said "the board is very concerned about the fact of the increasing rates." Superintendent Thomas Cutler said the Bigelow PFAS treatment plant could come online in October.

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Source: the Water meeting of April 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.