On Wednesday, June 25, MWRA's Board of Directors voted to approve the FY 2015 Current Expense Budget ("CEB") and community water and sewer assessments.

The MWRA’s Current Expense Budget for FY2015 is $674.5 million, representing an average combined water and sewer rate increase of 3.43%.

The biggest driver of MWRA's budget is debt service (the share of its budget that is devoted to principal and interest payments) on the bonds that financed major capital improvement projects. For FY 2015, debt service represents 60.8% of MWRA’s total budget.

Most of the projects funded through debt service were mandated by the federal court or state regulators, such as the successful Boston Harbor Clean-up and modernization of the drinking water system.

For the last several years, MWRA has had a multi-year rates management strategy in order to keep rate increases predictable and affordable, so that its member communities can better plan for future years.

The MWRA Board also approved the Capital Improvement Program for FY 2015. The FY15 Capital Improvement Program projects $137.6 million in spending for FY 2015, of which $82.6 million supports Wastewater System Improvements, $45.2 million supports Waterworks System Improvements, and $9.8 million is for Business and Operations Support. Some of the larger projects with spending in FY15 include Deer Island Asset Protection, Spot Pond Storage Facility and Pump Station, and Cambridge Sewer Separation.

As recommended by the MWRA Advisory Board, two additional Inflow and Infiltration (III) Phases totaling $160 million for MWRA sewer communities were added to the FY 2015 CIP. At $80 million per phase, the new III phases are each double the traditional $40 million per phase
amount.

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