Approximately a dozen voters passed judgement on a dozen warrant articles, overseen by about a dozen staff and officials, at the Annual District Meeting of the Acton Water District (AWD) on March 19 at Acton Memorial Library. Voters approved a total budget of $8,030,202 for fiscal year 2026, and authorized spending or borrowing to support salaries of elected officials, replacement of water meters throughout town, cleaning and rehabilitation of wells, replacement of old water mains, replacement of the filtration media used in the treatment plants, and purchase of a general services vehicle.
Continuing the custom begun last year, the meeting opened with a presentation by the Chair of the AWD Finance Committee, John Petersen, laying out the financial big picture of the District to provide context for the detailed warrant articles to come. Petersen divided up the costly activities of the District into those related to supply (obtaining and preparing legal, safe water) and those related to distribution (delivering that water to users). He noted that in its early days, the AWD was mostly about distributing water; then they began to build water treatment plants and their costs became dominated by supply challenges. Looking towards the future, he warned that whatever source of water might be adopted, distribution will remain a local responsibility.
Petersen emphasized that the AWD budget reflects the true cost of providing clean water to users. Ninety percent of the revenue comes from users, with additional revenue provided by leases, fees and connection charges for new installations. The expenses of the district continue to rise, driven by the new costs for PFAS treatment, as well as rising costs for energy, health care, and retirement funds. Thanks to hefty budget increases implemented in the last few years, the Commissioners were able to hold the FY26 usage charge rate increase to 3% and decrease the debt service portion of the bill slightly. For the median residential customer (a household that uses 1380 cubic feet per billing period in winter and 1647 cubic feet in summer) the annual water bill for the coming year will be $747, little changed from last year. Total volume of water sold is around 60 million cubic feet per year, and has been slowly decreasing due to a combination of conservation efforts and rainfall.
After Petersen’s presentation, Moderator Bill Mullin led a presentation, discussion, and vote for the twelve warrant articles. In contrast to some recent years, there were no big ticket items (>$100,000) on the AWD warrant this year. All warrant articles passed unanimously, but several generated questions from the floor.
When Article 8 proposed to “transfer from Surplus Revenue the sum of $20,000 for the purpose of replacing old water mains, renewing old water services, and replacing old fire hydrants,” voters objected that $20,000 couldn’t possibly be enough, given how many water main breaks there had been in Acton this past year. District Manager Matt Mostoller replied that the $20,000 in Article 8 referred only to funds unspent from the prior year that were being moved forward to become available for spending in the coming year, and that they would draw from operational funds for water mains work required above $20,000. The budget provided with the annual report showed “Maintenance & Operations” budgeted for $750,000 in FY26 (up from $407,534 in FY24). Mr. Mostoller wasn’t able to provide the exact amount that the AWD had spent on water main repairs in the past year, but by way of providing context he noted that repaving alone had cost $20,000 following the recent water main break near Rt 2.
When Article 11 proposed to transfer various funds to enable the purchase of a “new general service vehicle,” a voter asked if the District was considering renewable energy. Mostoller replied that this was a heavy duty vehicle and that they had not been able to identify an electric vehicle that would be capable of the work required.
When the formal meeting was dissolved, voters lingered and mingled with the AWD staff and elected and appointed officials. During the mingling, several voters expressed appreciation to this reporter about how approachable and relatively transparent the AWD enterprise is.
The Water District is anticipating a competitive election for one slot on the Board of Water Commissioners at Town Elections this spring. The Board of Water Commissioners is analogous to the Select Board in Town government, the elected executive board. Incumbent Barry Rosen will face off against John Petersen, currently the chair of the AWD Finance Committee.
Vote in person at the R.J.Grey Junior High School on April 29 or by mail prior to April 25.
Kim Kastens is an Associate Editor and Board member for the Acton Exchange. She also chairs the Water Committee of Green Acton.
