Medfield Town Officials Address Residents' Water Billing Complaints

Medfield Assistant Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler said the primary reason residents are experiencing high water bills this year is due to an increased water rate.

“We had a large rate increase last year,” Trierweiler said. “People were very upset after the last summer reading and I think you’re still seeing an [affect] of that because they are still feeling that from last year as well as a small rate increase this year.”

That small rate increase this year was .

Medfield Selectmen chair Osler Peterson and selectman Ann Thompson took time at Tuesday’s board meeting to bring up the issue of water billing after each received numerous complaints from residents.

“Some people have a sense that the [water] bills aren’t always right,” Peterson said.

Trierweiler said in addition to the town’s rate increase, other factors might contribute to residents experiencing higher water bills.

“For example, I had a woman come in, family of five,” Trierweiler said. “Her water bill for the last few years has been about $70 because she had a 25-year-old meter that was slowing down. When a meter slows down, it doesn’t accurately report the water going through. We gave her a new meter and her water bill is $375, which is where it should be for a consumption of a family of five, especially for a summer reading. I think it’s a combination of these things, but it’s primarily the rate increase that people are feeling, especially on a summer bill.”

In terms of water consumption factoring into higher water bills, Trierweiler referenced residents using sprinkler systems in the summer.

“I think you will also see a lot of our rate complaints have been from people who have sprinkler systems,” Trierweiler said. “Drive around Medfield in summer, there are sprinklers going two, three, four times a day and most of them are either in the rain or in violation of the water ban. … There were many days this summer when normally we would see only one million gallons [of water] drawn on wells – we were seeing three million gallons. People were using a tremendous amount of water.”

Among the complaints Peterson received, he said some residents were concerned it was an error the town made when reading meters. Ken Feeney, Superintendent of the Department of Public Works said the town has gotten away from manual reading of meters and uses a radio read system that is "highly accurate."

“It takes the human factor right out of it,” Feeney said. “This system is very good.”

In the past that wasn’t always the case.

“If you go out and read 100 meters in the old days your eyes are going cross-eyed and you’re going to reverse some numbers sooner or later,” Feeney said. “We had a lot of mistakes in the old days.”

Feeney said the town is in the process of issuing residents new meters, which as Trierweiler pointed out, can increase the water bill with a more accurate reading.

“You got to remember we are installing new meters, [which] are more accurate than the old ones,” Feeney said. “Some of these meters we are replacing are 20 years old. Meters get slower, they don’t get faster. They might be experiencing some of that.”

Feeney added the complaints might just be the result of the difference in water consumption between the winter and summer seasons.

“When you look at the consumption, this is what happens,” Feeney said. “You have a winter bill, it’s low. So then [residents] think the water has doubled in cost or that we’re wrong. When you go back on their readings for a full year, the consumption rate [accurately portrays] the cost.”

Trierweiler said “about 20 percent” of the town still uses manual reads as opposed to radio reads and as a result, some of those residents may spot an error with the bill, though it is unlikely.

Since Trierweiler received Thompson’s e-mails and phone calls regarding water bill complaints from residents, she had the Water Department “pull 10 to 15 bills at random to check the calculations and everything came back fine,” she said.

“If they are any residents that are concerned about their water bills, please call the Water Department or the Town Administrator’s office and someone will walk you through the billing,” Trierweiler said. … “[For those with manual read meters], we would be more than happy to do a re-read on your meter.”