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APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE-ATM 20 1 8
<br /> Wastewater Enterprise Fund
<br /> FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 $
<br /> Actual Appropriated Requested Change Change
<br /> Compensation $261,525 $308,749 $359,312 $50,563 16.38%
<br /> Expenses $349,034 $356,525 $408,150 $51,625 14.48%
<br /> Debt Service $937,922 $1,063,349 $1,211,165 $147,816 13.90%
<br /> MWRA Assessment $7,265,870 $7,402,979 $7,634,368 $231,389 3.13%
<br /> Total Requested in Article 5 $8,814,351 $9.131,602 $9,612,995 $481,393 5.27%
<br /> Indirect Expenses (Article 4) $503,898 $546,827 $515,280 -$31,547 -5.77%
<br /> OPEB Contribution $4,085 $4,085 $0 0.00%
<br /> Total Wastewater Enterprise Budget $9,318,249 $9,682,514 $10,132,360 $449,846 4.65%
<br /> Note that this table differs from that contained in the warrant in three respects: (1) the MWRA assess-
<br /> ments for water and wastewater reflect the MWRA's preliminary assessments issued in February, which
<br /> are much lower than the 10% increase "placeholders" assumed in the Warrant; (2) indirect expenses to be
<br /> charged to the enterprise funds, although appropriated separately under Article 4, have been included for
<br /> completeness; and (3) the new charges to the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Funds to fund liabilities
<br /> for Other Post-retirement Employment Benefits ("OPEB"), although appropriated separately under Arti-
<br /> cle 24,have also been added for completeness.
<br /> As can be seen from the table, there are some fairly significant increases in the DPW's operating costs,
<br /> compared with prior years, but they are offset by relatively small (or negative) MWRA assessment in-
<br /> creases and a reduction in indirect expenses as financial responsibility for the Utility Billing Manager is
<br /> being transferred from the General Fund (Finance) to the enterprise funds (Water and Sewer Operations).
<br /> On a combined basis,the total expenses of the two funds are going up only 2.59%. This means that when
<br /> FY2018 water and sewer rates are set in the fall,rate increases should be modest.
<br /> MWRA Assessments. The largest expense components of both the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Fund
<br /> budgets are the assessments charged by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), which
<br /> now represent 70-75% of the total budget for each fund. The Town will be assessed a share of the
<br /> MWRA's total FY2019 water and sewer budgets based on the Town's proportionate water and sewer us-
<br /> age in the most recent full calendar year(CY2017), compared with other towns in the MWRA communi-
<br /> ty. Based on the MWRA's preliminary assessments,' the MWRA increases/decreases for FY2019 will be
<br /> -0.92% for water and 3.13% for wastewater, as set forth in the table above, for a combined increase of
<br /> 1.1%.
<br /> The small reduction in Lexington's water assessment from FY2018 compares favorably with a MWRA
<br /> system-wide combined increase of 4.0%. During the summer of 2017, a relatively wet summer compared
<br /> with the extremely dry summer of 2016 when Lexington consumed irrigation water at records levels,Lex-
<br /> ington residents and business cut back substantially on water use — even more so than other MWRA
<br /> communities — consuming 11.2% less in 2017 than 2016, and reducing Lexington's system share by
<br /> 5.1%. On the wastewater side, our 3.1%increase compares with a 3.9%MWRA increase system-wide.
<br /> Direct Town Costs. In addition to the MWRA assessments, the expenses of the Water and Wastewater
<br /> Fund budgets include direct costs incurred by the Town, primarily for: (1) the wages and salaries of the
<br /> Final MWRA assessments issued in June, typically a bit smaller than the preliminary assessments, are used to set
<br /> water and sewer rates during the Town's annual rate-setting process in the fall. Appropriations for MWRA expenses
<br /> may be adjusted to reflect the final assessments if a special town meeting is held in the fall.
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