Newton sends residents huge water bills after replacing meters broken since 2019

Some people in Newton, Massachusetts, are getting water and sewer bills as high as $67,000 after years without properly-working water meters.

Newton residents have been getting estimation bills since the water meters stopped sending readings to City Hall in 2019. The city started replacing them in the spring, then charging for the overage since 2020 at the highest rate.

Marc Heimlich’s water and sewer bill came in the mail right before Thanksgiving, informing him that he owed $15,000 by Dec. 13.

“I’ve lived in this house for 17 years. The water bills, at maximum, were no more than $400 a quarter,” Heimlich told NBC10 Boston. “That equates to over 366,000 gallons of water. I’m not running a car wash here.”

After learning several of his neighbors had bills as high as $67,000, he filed a petition calling on the city to give all residents a smoothing analysis, which reflects the rates at the time the water was used. He’s also urging officials to lower the rates to match surrounding communities.

“If I had known that I was using as much as I was — or apparently was — perhaps I would have curbed my use,” Heimlich said. “But to penalize me four years later without any notice or advance warning is wrong.”

The same thing happened to David Helfman, so he called City Hall. They told him they could do a smoothing analysis, and now he’s waiting to hear back on whether he’ll be issued a credit for overpayment.

“If someone doesn’t know that the smoothing process may result in a lower bill, they’re being charged at a higher rate than the rate may have been three or four years ago,” Helfman said. “Now they’re actually paying more to the city than they should be.”

The office of Mayor Ruthanne Fuller explained via email that it asked residents with estimated usage bills to submit readings to the billing department, but Helfman said he did that and still received a bill two or three times the normal amount.

“They didn’t do anything with the readings I had been sending them,” Helfman said. “I think it’s outrageous, and I let them know that in very kind terms.”

The city is offering two interest-free payment plans over a period of 12 months. The project is just over 15% complete and the installations are expected to continue through 2025.