Keefe Says Decision on Water Meter Rates Is Not Imminent

Sensing that there needs to be ‘a more equitable solution” to the Revere’s water meter rates payment structure, Ward 4 Councillor Patrick Keefe expects any action on the issue to be pushed back to later this year.

“We want to produce a plan that makes it fair for all ratepayers (commercial and non-commercial),” said Keefe.

Keefe said there was an option on the table that would have granted relief to “multi-family (4-to-6 units of housing) residents and giving them an owner-occupied water rate.”

“But in order to do that, you would basically be shifting the expenses to all the other ratepayers,” explained Keefe. “So, it didn’t necessarily seem that equitable to the entire Council – that’s why it’s been held up for so long.”

The City Council has discussed the water meter rates issue at multiple meetings and a vote appeared imminent. Ways and Means Subcommittee Chair Dan Rizzo stressed that the plan deserved further review, noting that he didn’t feel it was right to burden either group of residents with a higher percentage of rate payments. The Council agreed with Rizzo’s summation and the matter was tabled.

Keefe, who co-sponsored the original motion with Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky, doesn’t foresee the water meter rate payment structure changing at all in the new fiscal year.

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