Water Company Acquisition Forum: Well-Attended and Respectful

April 2, 2019 by Carol Britton Meyer

More than 25 Hingham residents attended an open forum on the proposed Aquarion Water Company acquisition at Hingham Community Center last night (April 1) representing both sides of the issue -- answering questions, providing information, and listening respectfully to each other.

Absent were PowerPoint presentations and prepared remarks -- this was a meeting meant to simply provide those who will be voting on the related warrant articles at the April 22 Town Meeting an opportunity to hear different sides of the issue.

"The purpose of this forum is to get people together to share their questions, concerns, or support for [the acquisition]," said resident Diane DeNapoli, who organized the meeting with Community Center Executive Director Mary Ann Blackmur.

"We're so glad to offer this opportunity for civil discourse on this issue," she said. Hingham Pastor Jeremy Scott gracefully facilitated the meeting.

The overriding goal of this open forum was "to help the layperson sift through all the information and to decide what he or she thinks is best for the town," DeNapoli told the Hingham Anchor. "We're all residents who have, or will, come to different conclusions -- that's it."

In response to Laura Marwill's question as to what would happen if Town Meeting voters do not support the acquisition, a few residents responded, explaining that that option doesn’t expire but that the current purchase price of about $108 million would increase at a rate of $3 to $4 million annually. This means that at some point, Dan Power said, "[such an acquisition] could be financially out of our reach."

Amy Farrell noted, "It's hard to put a price tag on such a basic, finite resource."

Christine Smith explained that water company revenues would come from ratepayers and that property owners pay taxes under Prop 2-1/2, noting that much-needed improvements to Foster School would  not compete with any such acquisition.

With regard to water rates, Amy Farrell pointed out that municipally-owned systems set their rates at the local level and that the rate-setting process should Town Meeting approve the purchase would include local  public hearings as part of the Town’s annual budget process.

Marco Boer asked and then answered his own compelling question: "If we don't like the rates, can we vote those people who made the decision out of office? Yes, and we can’t do that now under Aquarion ownership."

Other public water systems

Janine Suchecki noted that 96 percent of Massachusetts communities have public water systems (so why not Hingham?) -- with numerous vendors (of parts, pipes, etc.) to choose from in response to a concern expressed by Richard Valentine: "If the town takes over the water company, it won't be part of a bigger network (that would offer competitive prices)."

Mark Cullings explained that the town would be able to get "economies of scale" by purchasing supplies and equipment through a consortium of other municipal water systems as other municipal utilities often do.

Valentine went on to say that "Maintaining the infrastructure will be the unknown cost. We need to start analyzing what those costs would be. It's a changing metric."
Power countered Valentine's statement, saying that the infrastructure issue is a "moot point because it would be the same picture whoever owns the water company."
Paul Gannon is concerned that taxpayers "will end up having to [pay to] fix problems [within the system]."

In response to a question posed by Jim Watson about whether the water rates in all three towns served by the water system (Hingham, Hull, and part of Cohasset) are required to be the same,  Chrissy Roberts said she has heard over and over again that they would be the same for all three communities, as they are under Aquarion ownership. "I keep hearing, 'A ratepayer is a ratepayer is a ratepayer,'" she said. "There's no reason for them not to be the same."

The value of water will continue to climb "infinitely higher" in the future because there’s no alternative source, Boer said. "This is not about us but the next generation."
Suchecki asked Greg Lane, who works for Aquarion, if the water business is profitable and what the company's profits were in 2018.

"Aquarion is in the water industry to make profits," he said, stating that Aquarion didn't make a profit last year.

However, according to Power, the latest Eversource annual report shows "a double-digit rate of return for their shareholders."

Judy Sneath said she doesn't understand why some people are questioning the town's ability to operate a water system. "I don't buy it," she said.

Gary Tondorf-Dick said he's heard a lot about the business model but would like more information about the operations side. "I’m concerned more about the morning after and next year," he said. Tondorf-Dick planned to attend the following night's Selectmen's meeting, during which information about the transition team and plan would be offered.

"The town has hired a transition expert with 30 years' experience in the water industry, including with the Department of Environmental Protection," Roberts said.
Boer noted that the town has indicated that it will give preference to Request for Proposals responses that involve hiring the current Hingham water treatment plant employees.

When the issue of how much money Aquarion has spent on public relations was brought up, Lane said those expenses "are not passed on to ratepayers."
Smith said she'd "rather pay my own mortgage than someone else's," referring to Aquarion versus town ownership.

Cullings focused on the stewardship aspect. "Aquarion owns 277 acres of land in Hingham. We have a sole-source aquifer. Currently we have no control over what happens to that 277 acres. Aquarion is based in Connecticut and has been sold three times in 15 years. It’s our water, and right now we can’t control it or manage it."

In response, Cathy Salisbury said that some years back Town Meeting approved two overlay zoning articles to provide at least some control.

What does that control look like? "We have an option under the statute to purchase the assets of the Hingham Water Company [now Aquarion] -- the tangible property -- the land, the pipes, the pumps and control of the water resource," Tom Carey said. "The golden part is the franchise to own those water rights and to sell it to customers in that geographic area [the three towns] without the corporate overhead [including shareholder profits].

"Under town ownership we'd be running the same business [as Aquarion currently does], and some people think it would be done better than it's done now [under Aquarion ownership]," Carey said.