MANCHESTER, NH – Manchester residents will see a 19 percent rate increase on their sewer bill following a vote by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Tuesday night after the board learned without action, the Manchester Department of Public Works’ Environmental Protection Division (EPD) would see a zero-fund balance by Fiscal Year 2029.
The division oversees various stormwater management projects, including the ongoing Cemetery Brook Drain Tunnel Project, a 12-foot underground combined sewer overflow abatement tunnel placed 80 feet under the ground that will stretch from Mammoth Road to its outflow at the Merrimack River near the Queen City Bridge. The project, which led to the recent eminent domain proceedings with Eighty-Eight Coffee Company, has been mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency for past violations of the Clean Water Act. When completed, the project will help filter the city’s current sewer system during periods of significant water runoff, helping improve the water quality in the Merrimack River.
With the rate increase, EPD would remain solvent until Fiscal Year 2034 under current projections, as the fee increases would go to repay additional revenue bonds needed to complete the project. Currently the city’s sewer rate is approximately $300 a year less than the state average.
Manchester Department of Public Works Director Tim Clougherty said that the approximate cost for the bonds would come in at around $700 million, although this amount would also go to help repay similar drainage projects elsewhere in the city such as the Christian Brook tunnel further north and a similar tunnel on the West Side that was constructed in the 1990s. The initial cost for the project was estimated at approximately $360 million and may be higher in the future, although Clougherty expected to have 75 percent certainty on the final costs for the project after upcoming bids for contractors on yet-to-be constructed portions of the Cemetery Brook tunnel are revealed.
If the Cemetery Brook tunnel is not completed by 2040, Clougherty said that the EPA would fine the city $1,000 per day until the project is completed. To date, the city has not received any state or federal assistance for any of the three projects according to testimony given on Tuesday night.
Ward 11 Alderman Norm Vincent asked if rates could be increased at a lower figure, with Clougherty saying that anything lower would not convince investors to buy the bonds, as repayment would come from sewer rate payers.
Members of the board also asked if the bonding could come through general obligation bonds rather than revenue bonds, shifting the burden onto all taxpayers rather than just sewer rate payers. Manchester Finance Director Sharon Wickens advised against this option, stating that additional general obligation bonds at this time could jeopardize the city’s credit rating.
Aldermanic Chair Joseph Kelly Levasseur said that he would prefer to either meet with the city’s legal counsel to determine strategies to fight the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandated remediation or seek support for additional federal funding from New Hampshire’s congressional delegation.
After the board went into a non-public session to discuss the matter further, a motion was made to approve the recommended rate increases and related bonding for the projects. It passed on a non-unanimous non-roll call vote.