The Finance Committee (FinCom) of the Acton Water District (AWD), along with the District Treasurer and Manager, met on January 4 to continue crafting the District Financial Policy, review the draft Fiscal Year ‘25 (FY25) budget and Annual Meeting warrant articles, and discuss water rates for FY25. FY25 for the District runs from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.
The emerging Financial Policy document formalizes and articulates policies around: annual budget, cash management, reserves, investments, stabilization fund, general fund, capital expenditures, other liabilities, accounting and financial reporting, and risk mitigation. The intent is to finalize the document early this year, and it will be a public document.
At this relatively early step in the budget planning process, the FY25 budget is projected to be in the range of $7.2 – 7.9 million, as contrasted with $6.7 M for FY24. A water rate increase will be required to meet the larger budget. Most of the new expenses are for remediation of PFAS, including the ongoing cost of replacement filtration medium and rental of the treatment system at the North Acton plant.
As an alternative to spreading the unavoidable cost increase evenly across all water usage, the Committee discussed the possibility of loading the rate increase disproportionately onto summer rates and higher-volume rate tiers. The goal would be to use the pricing signal to further discourage non-essential outdoor water use in the summer, when the system is most stressed. The budget is expected to be finalized at a joint meeting of the AWD Board of Commissioners and FinCom on January 22.
Kim Kastens is a member of the Acton Exchange Board of Directors, and she chairs the Water Committee for Green Acton. She was the citizen petitioner for Warrant Article 25 passed at the 2023 AWD Annual Meeting that requested that the AWD study if water rate structure could be used to encourage water conservation.
