To the editor:
The gathering of nearly 300 water petitioners moves Great Barrington closer to the acquisition of its two water companies. The grass-roots effort generated 50 percent more signatures than required of its bylaws, thanks to the tireless efforts of our team during the cold winter months. In accordance with state statutes, the Selectboard has scheduled the Special Town Meeting (STM) at Monument Mountain Regional High School for 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 17.
At the STM, we hope to move toward the acquisition of the privately held Housatonic Water Works (HWW) and the Great Barrington Fire District (GBFD). GBFD is an independent water company formed through state statutes in the 1800s to create the town’s water facility. Because the GBFD management was still evolving, a statute subcontracted the billing and tax collection services to be performed by the town, but not its governance. Therein lies the confusion.
It is important that all Great Barrington residents attend the STM as it offers a turning point away from an antiquated structure. We will demonstrate how cost containment and improved quality control would result from the consolidation of our management under town governance and hopefully with the support of willing and able GBFD board members.
We need a solid two-thirds-majority vote for both entities to advance where the town will complete the acquisitions and form an enterprise fund.
This will be a pivotal vote, resolving decades of efforts to provide HWW users with clean water. We are at a turning point that would unite our town’s efforts to address the necessity for water, whether for our health, in the case of drought or water contamination, or against the ravages of fire.
Ultimately, our water expenses should be brought to a level that puts an end to HWW’s focus on profits without providing clean water. The town will oversee and approve water rates, resources, and capital expenditures annually. This will redirect our energies and costs toward more productive uses, much like our successful wastewater enterprise fund which is under town governance.
Management consolidation will not require expense beyond water users’ normal rates. What will be saved is the cost of duplicate overhead. Instead of excess management and finance personnel, two headquarters offices and billing systems, we will have eliminated waste and excess. Most of all, the town’s rate payers won’t need three senior managers being paid over $100,000 built into our water-usage charges.
Capital expenditures and acquisition costs will be allocated to each rate payer base, not as a usage charge, but billed separately. No one needs to pay twice! These will be financed at special rates (zero to two percent) and long terms through a Massachusetts water revolving fund established decades ago. According to Rep. Rich Neal’s office, these loans are only available to municipal systems in Massachusetts. Any sharing will amount to cost savings for all in the long run.
Since Massachusetts requires public water systems to include a second source, plans are in place for mutual backup systems. If the town had managed both water systems, the decision would have been naturally made to interconnect pipes. Instead, the exploration for alternatives proved costly. The connection was finally approved by the GBFD board in 2023 along with $5 million for capital expenditures to cover pipe extensions, property acquisition, and exploration costs.
Many GBFD water users do not know that they are being charged a “GB Fire District Tax,” which is the water system quietly added to our real estate tax bills without Selectboard review. GBFD has had the right to impose water taxes going back decades and is able to add this cost based on the capital expenditures approved at GBFD meetings. Their meetings only require a 15-person quorum. In contrast, under a new town enterprise fund, Selectboard reviews would be required. And major decisions would be approved at Great Barrington’s annual Town Meeting.
Here is the difference: The current Fire District assessment is $1.50 per $1,000. It amounts to 10 percent on top of a town tax rate of $15 per $1,000. The assessment continues until the loan is paid off. Since GBFD has the same aged-pipe problem as most of New England systems, there are millions of dollars still to be invested in pipes and new treatment systems.
This interconnected system has been unfortunately interrupted by a one-sided stalemate. While GBFD is ready, HWW has delayed their promised purchase of new pipes, a water tank, and a manganese remediation system. Ignoring the DPU settlement, HWW has charged the higher DPU-approved rate to its customers, without even ordering the equipment. These flagrant broken agreements with the DPU, and often with MassDEP, are typical of HWW, negatively affecting its users.
At the upcoming Special Town Meeting, we hope to preapprove the town’s acquisition of both water companies with reasonable price flexibility through a resounding two-thirds-majority vote.
It is none too soon. With the increasing risk of drought and fire, we need to have our most critical resource—water—managed safely, reliably, cost-efficiently, ready to function well in this changing world.
We are presented with an opportunity to coordinate an effort to acquire and manage the “GB Water Enterprise.” We hope our citizen efforts will facilitate definitive action by the Selectboard with the guidance of town counsel. It cannot happen without the town’s support.
If you are a registered voter of Great Barrington/Housatonic, please attend the Special Town Meeting. We are ONE town. Let’s move forward as ONE community joined in a commitment to secure clean water for all of us.
Sharon Gregory
Great Barrington
Holly Hardman
Great Barrington
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