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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-09-08-WSAB-min,)S MOPN� Minutes p ` 1 775 �Q p Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board r >' 201 Bedford Street n' l exington, MA 0 ?42(1 <F APRIL 19- rtvG'V September 8, 2011 x "APPROVED 61 * * Attendance: Board Members — Loren Wood, Chair; Maria Constantinides, member; and Jim Osten, Member Maria Constantinides, Member, was not present. Staff: Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance; Elizabeth Tucker and Robin Fullford, Water /Sewer Enterprise Chair Loren Wood called the meeting to order at 4:31 pm. The order of business was conducted as follows: Minutes of the Meeting It was moved by Ms. Constantinides, seconded by Mr minutes of the June 23, 2011 meeting as tendered. It was moved by Ms. Constantinides, seconded by Mr minutes of the August 4, 2011 meeting as tendered. Status Report Ms. Fullford provided a status report as follows: 18 To be heard tonight 2 To go the BOS 8/1/11 19 Pending 14 On Hold 53 Total Osten and voted unanimously to approve the Osten and voted unanimously to approve the Appeals Ms. Fullford reported that Robert Kefalas of 43A Woburn Street has opted to withdraw his appeal. Abatement requests for consideration: 70 Cliffe Avenue - APPROVED DOMESTIC LEAKS This is a single family rental unit. The owners are responsible for the water /sewer bills but have not been paying and have allowed past bills to go to lien. The tenant is in the process of purchasing the property and he filed an abatement on Bill #660916 which was high due to a toilet leak. He has provided an invoice for the repair of the leak. Based on past usage, the average fall usage is 37 hcf. Because the average falls within tier one rates, the entire usage is recalculated at tier one. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of - $2,061.90. 101 School Street - APPROVED The owner applied for a leak -based abatement on bill #s 687196 and 669528. He provided invoices for the repair and ultimate replacement of the kitchen faucet dated 3/2/11 and 7/5/11. We VS MORN Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board U � r 3 - 201 Bedford Street a ° a Texington, MA, 02420 APR ! N GT G1 " September 8, 2011 �X established three year average visages for spring and fail billing periods of 18 and 15. All usage .. recalculated at tier one rates resulting in a recommended abatement of - $371.86. 17 Sutherland Road - APPROVED This Property sold on 4/19/11. The final bill 4v hich .vas issued on 4/19!11 should have been for 75 HCF but because the final was generated in the midst of a regular bill run, the usage billed on the final was for 8 HCF only from the 3/23/11 read for the regular cycle billing to the 4119111 read. Subsequent to the issuance of the final bill, the regular cycle bill was issued on 4122111 which picked up all of the usage from 9/23110 to 3/23/11; usage that was included in the usage billed in the final bill of 4119/11. The presentation below shows that the final bill 4682243 should have been for $839.35 instead of $70.32 and that regular cycle bill should not have been issued at all and thus should be abated in full. The prior owner has stated that she did not apply for these leak -based adjustments timely because of various personal reasons. In addition, the prior owner is seeking abatement of bills #662047, 644380, 630982, 617572 contending that a portion of the usage for each of these bills reflects a leak in the house. The applicant has supplied an invoice from Kirkland and Shaw dated 7/1/2010 for a toilet repair. The presentation below applies a leak -based adjustment to each of these bills using the applicable spring and fall averages. The total abatement recommended taking into consideration the leaks, the revision of the final bill and the abatement of the regular cycle bill is - $1,296.57. BILLING ISSUES 95 Grove Street — FURTHER ACTION REQUIRED 35 Hartwell Avenue Domestic - APPROVED This is an industrial account with a 2" Sensus meter that read 3381 on 5/16/2011 (see picture). It had been misread and overbilled. We went back to an A read on 10/22/2008 and redistributed the usage of 850 from readings of 2531 to 3381. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of - $3,610.67. 35 Hartwell Avenue Irrigation — HELD FOR CONFIRMATION THE ACCOUNT IS IRRIGATION ONLY 101 Hartwell Avenue — APPROVED This is a commercial property that has been vacant since 2009. Staff was unaware and continued to issue estimate Millings_ Most of the nyerhilling -wn z handlPd by a n � ati— 1,;11 a t cln n rl,- vgu« v v V11A 1iL -M 111x. 111V reading at the closing was 23575 and the reading at the meter removal was 23621 indicating that an additional 46 units were used. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of - $896.82. 445 Massachusetts Avenue – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement due to high usage. In the course of the investigation, we learned that this account has been connected to sewer but was not being charged sewer and the 2 N o S M Do? .Minutes � 177s _ a� Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board - 201 Bedford Street V Lexinamn, MA f d?n Apklt l9 September 8, 2011 f XeNG"�� property ys a three _family rental and had not been designated as such. For that reason, the usage of 75 is recalculated at tier one rates and the calculation reflects sewer charges. The result is a positive adjustment in the amount $373.90. 12 Summit Road - APPROVED At this property it was recently discovered that the irrigation and domestic usage have been reversed since installation. The homeowner bought the property at auction and has been doing extensive renovations. The house is vacant but they did some irrigation. In this calculation, the correct irrigation usage has been calculated at the appropriate rates. Staff recommends and upward adjustment on this account of $617.44 and an abatement of 42,455.53 on the domestic account for a net abatement of - $1,810.04. REDISTRIBUTIONS 1 April Lane -- APPROVED This is an 11 unit, residential property with a single meter. The Property Management firm requested an abatement because the usage had been estimated since the final in 2005. The meter was changed with an outread of 23469 on 4/26/2011 which indicated we had over estimated the usage. Because all subsequent readings had been estimated we redistributed the usage from the 918!2005 final bill at 20933 to the outread of 23469. We calculated all usage at tier one rates because an eleven unit account is charged tier one rates on the first 440 hcf. This results in a staff recommended abatement in the amount of - $882.53. i'his calculation was presented to WSA13 on 8/4/11. One of the use days was found to be incorrect. All use days have been verified/corrected. 7 Carmel Circle — APPROVED The homeowner filed an application on 12/4/2009 and requested we investigate his erratic usage on an old Rockwell meter. The meter has since been changed with an outread of 1874 and the usage has stabilized. The old meter was misread for several billings and a digit was dropped causing under billings. We went back to the actual read of 4/20/2006 but changed that read from 151 to 1510. We established ADU and derived usage for each billing period resulting in a staff recommended positive adjustment in the amount of $403.54. 113 Hartwell Avenue — APPROVED This application is for an industrial account that changed ownership and has been empty for rehab. We were not made aware of this at once and continued to estimate usage based on past usage; the bills were paid by the former owners. Staff took pictures of the meter, disconnected and on the ,fl ' _ - 4242(1 1. — ha rer� ictr�3yha� ter# !:sage back - the last 1 " "i read taken vii 4/2ii2009 up uiitil 11/29/2010 because the demo permit was approved on 12 -10 -2010. This results in an abatement of - $17,391.51. 594 Marrett Road — APPROVED This non- residential account had been misread since a new meter was installed 8/07//2007. We have consistently been under billing by dropping a digit. The meter was installed at zero, had a reading of 3 us M010? Minutes a I77ja yp... p Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board x 201 Bedford Street r ? Lexington, MA 02420 A, J, a September 8, 2011 I�x�NCj r 6 on 5,'612008 and on 6/1/2011 the reading was 305 (picture an file). Further, it was confirmed b the Assessor's data base that this is a 22 condo unit commercial building but had not been designated as such. We established ADU and applied that to the billing periods to derive usage. Because a 22 unit customer is charged at tier one rates for the first 440 hcf, we have applied tier one to all usage. We redistributed 299 hcf over the period of thane resulting in a staff recommended increase of $2,302.25. 3 Nowers Road — APPROVED The owner applied for an abatement on bill #584112. This property is on the freeze up list however, because the house is empty and under construction, staff did not get readings before and after. No one is living at the property and but for running the water to prevent a freeze up, no water would have been used. Staff recommends abating the entire bill in the amount of - $219.75. 7 Patriots Drive — HELD PENDING FURTHER REVIEW 48 Potter Pond Road - HELD PENDING FURTHER REVIEW 36 Vaille Avenue — APPROVED The homeowner responded to a large estimated bill and filed an application on bill #688440. A chaser revealed no leaks and the meter outread was 4993 indicating we had over estimated. We went back to the last postcard read on 10/12/2006 and derived usage based on average daily usage. S iaff recommends an avaieruent in the amount or - '1640.03. 59 Worthen Road — WITHDRAWN DISCUSSIONS The board discussed the issue of standardizing the number of billing periods to be redistributed. The following is a list of considerations identified during the discussion: SOME REASONS FOR GRANTING ABATEMENTS Leaks that were unknown to owner and have been repaired Domestic and Irrigation meters are reversed Inside read does not agree with outside read (old technology) Meter has failed Sewer was not charged and should have been Accounts being billed for the wrong number of units (living units and individually owned office condos) The Town misread meter or postcard CONSIDERATIONS TO BE DISCUSSED Self installed meters (meters over I") Sump pump discharge into sewer system not being captured 91 L}S moi.? Minutes o 177 % Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board x� _ z 201 Bedford Street -w Lexington_ MA 02420 ,NG September 8, 2011 � r Account histories with no "anchors" Did leaked water enter the sewer system? Owner has not returned postcards The user should have been aware of under billing Six month billings pAlvented "leak signal" Filing within 30 days — waiver of 30 day requirement for reasonable delayed recognition PRINCIPLES Desired effect: Billing is correct moving forward Responsibility may be taken into consideration - Town and Owner A paid bill is a release of responsibility of the owner if under billing was Town's error and owner can not be held accountable for recognizing it Previous rulings are not necessarily binding The Town is entitled to at least one timely notice and correction of an error Owner can be held responsible for reading meter and returning postcard Members of the board agreed to table the discussion and did not take any actions in relation to the discussion. It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Ms. Constantinides and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 6:59 PM. Respectfully submitted, Robin Fullford Fund Manager 5