Determine Your Water/Sewer Rebate

With all of the Select Board changes in water/ sewer rates for the 1st bill FY08 (July-Dec 2007) most of us are at least a little confused or unsure as to how much relief we will be receiving in the mail in the form of "abatement" or rebate checks.

I have prepared a chart using the best available information to help individuals. Remember this is an unofficial calculation and not approved numbers from SelectBoard office or Longmeadow Finance Dept. As was highlighted in my last posting, water rebates are already approved while the proposed sewer rebates must be approved at the March 4 Special Town Meeting. The chart below assumes that the sewer rebate will be approved by the STM.












The above chart shows that if you used 300 HCF for this last billing cycle and received a bill for $1173, you will receive an abatement check of $472 reducing your July-Dec 2007 water/sewer bill to $701 - a 40.2% reduction.

Results from this analysis shows that low volume users (up to 100 HCF) will not receive a rebate check while high volume water users (> 250 HCF) will receive rebates of 31-52%.

Below is a chart that compares FY07 charges vs. FY08 (adjusted) charges.












It is interesting to note that low volume users (less than 100 HCF) had ~ 15% increase from FY07 to FY08 while high volume users (>250 HCF) had smaller increases (2-11%). Mid-range water users (150-200 HCF) actually had a slight decrease in water/ sewer bills.

If interested there is a copy of the full spreadsheet used for this analysis posted on LongmeadowBiz.com.

Don't forget to vote in our poll about water rebates (--> top right hand corner)!