Notes from Stoneham Town Hall:
Published on April 26th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Water & Sewer rates.
Last week the Stoneham Water and Sewer Review Board proposed raising the water rate from 2.1 to 2.5 dollars per 100 cubic feet of water used for fiscal 2001. The proposed sewer rate is 5.75, up .25 dollars per 100 cubic feet of water from fiscal 2000.
For a family of three with each person using 70 gallons of water a day, which is the average among Stoneham users, the new rates translate to a $65 higher water and sewer bill; the hypothetical Stoneham family of three would pay $825 for water and sewer in fiscal 2001.
This is an eight- percent increase mostly attributable to the higher Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) charge, said Town Administrator Jeff Nutting.
Town Meeting voters will have the final say on the rates, which are part of the Town Budget on the warrant as Article 7.
School building update
The South School will be finished within budget and on time - the school will open on June 7, according to School Building Committee Chairman Dan Hogan.
Central School construction will go out to bid May 16, and construction is expected to begin in June, Hogan said.
Education funding
State Senator Tisei (R-3rd Middlesex) has a plan to help Stoneham get education funds that the flawed state funding formula has cost the town.
He is trying to place legislation in the pending state budget that would create a bailout fund for communities like Stoneham where the base funding level was set at an almost arbitrary low point based on how local education was funded the year before Education Reform kicked in 1993.
Tisei proposed a $5 million fund, which the Education Commissioner would dole out to school systems meeting certain criteria, which Tisei designed with Stoneham in mind.
Once a community received a grant from the fund, that level of funding would be part of the base funding level for the district. Thus, school systems like Stoneham could catch up and get their fair share of state education funds.
"If I can't get it on the budget, I'll try to get it passed on the floor," Tisei said.
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