Ayer Rate Review Committee votes to raise trash bag prices by $1 starting July

AYER -- March 15, 2021, Ayer's Rate Review Committee unanimously backed a $1-per-bag increase on all transfer station bag sizes, effective July 1, 2021, sending the recommendation to the Select Board for approval at its March 16 meeting. DPW Superintendent Mark Wetzel told the committee that permit sales have fallen from 1,418 to 1,120 this fiscal year, leaving the solid waste enterprise fund roughly $42,000 short, with $35,000 in retained earnings from the fund's $113,000 balance earmarked to offset part of the gap. The committee also reviewed proposed water rate increases of 7 to 11 cents per hundred cubic feet and sewer increases of 41 to 53 cents per step, driven by $11.5 million in cumulative PFAS treatment spending, which would add about $19.20 per year for the average resident. Two new DPW positions, a billing clerk and an assistant superintendent for water and wastewater, are proposed alongside the utility rate hikes, adding 1 cent to the water rate and 2 cents to the sewer rate if approved at town meeting.