Framingham Mayor Aims a $200 Million Water & Sewer Bill at Homeowners & Renters When a Better Solution Exists

On Monday October 6, 2025, there was a candidates forum at Barbieri Elementary School hosted by the Coburnville Tripoli Neighborhood Association, and moderated by Ashland Town Manager, Michael Herbert.

The most important revelation in the proceedings was the statement by Mayor Charlie Sisitsky that the Enterprise Fund, which is the funding tool for handling revenue and expenses for water & sewer system management, can only be funded by water & sewer rates.

This is a big deal, as Framingham has at least a $200 million backlog in water & sewer maintenance.

That means, in the Mayor’s view, the that entire $200 million backlog of water & sewer maintenance must be paid entirely by water & sewer rates, and that means ongoing very large increases will be visited on the community because, as the work proceeds, large amounts have to be borrowed by the city to pay for the work, and the community has to pay the increased debt service.

In current planning, about $50 million of that work will be done each year for the next 4 years, with annual debt service rising at the rate of $2.5 million/year. The Mayor plans to pay for that rising debt service by increasing water & sewer rates, with the next hike happening in about 18 months (by his word).

In this approach, with 28,000 households in the city, each one ultimately will pay about $7,000 to fund the work, either directly through water & sewer bill increases or indirectly through rent increases passed through by landlords.

Big water & sewer bill increases lie ahead on a Sisitsky trajectory.

The community should rise up on this issue, as although the Mayor insists that this is the only way to pay for the huge amount of work, he is completely wrong.

The statement he made in the forum is confirmed by an excerpt from The Message From the Mayor: Water & Sewer Rates, which is posted on the city website:

“The water and sewer operations in Framingham are structured as an Enterprise Fund. This model ensures that the costs of providing services—such as personnel, maintenance, and infrastructure investments—are covered by user fees rather than general tax revenue.”

A MUCH BETTER APPROACH

There is a way to fund the work which reduces the $7,000 debt service burden on each household to zero, and water & sewer rates could be lowered.

Water & sewer system financial management is done through an Enterprise Fund which is funded through water & sewer rates, and taxes as needed. All expenses for the system are then paid out from these funds.

The Mayor insists that taxes cannot be used, even though state law explicitly allows for that. Here is the relevant state law, MGL Chapter 44 Section 53F 1/2 :

"The city or town shall include in its tax levy for the fiscal year the amount appropriated for the total expenses of the enterprise and an estimate of the income to be derived by the operations of the enterprise. If the estimated income is less than the total appropriation, the difference shall be added to the tax levy and raised by taxation."

This is also affirmed in the state manual on enterprise funds: Enterprise Funds: A Best Practice.

So, state law allows for the Enterprise Fund to also be funded from tax revenue.

The remarkable thing is that Framingham can fund the $200 million from EXISTING tax revenue.

We don’t have to raise taxes to solve the problem!

Framingham can use the same approach which Wayland has used, which has managed the various competing demands for funding in its operations by extending it pension liability payoff date to 2040.

Shifting Framingham’s pension liability payoff date from 2030 to 2040 would free up $10 million/year in existing tax revenue to fund all of the $200 million in water & sewer work, so the increased debt service would not be paid by water & sewer rate increases.

There also would be totally no impact on the retirees who receive benefits from the city pension fund.

This is an obvious way to make the city much more affordable for its residents.

But Charlie won’t do the obvious.

Watch the video from the forum, in which the Mayor states his position and then see Geoff Epstein’s rebuttal. Note that the Mayor shakes his head in disagreement as Epstein explains how tax revenue can be used to fund the $200 million of water & sewer work.

Framingham Mayor Sisitsky Gets Water & Sewer Funding Wrong, Causing High Water Bills + Epstein's Fix

Nothing could be clearer.

The Mayor is simply unaware of a great way to solve the water & sewer $200 million maintenance backlog problem, and keeps on resisting a new approach, to the great detriment of the community.

There is a pattern of bad government here.

It’s reminiscent of the time the Mayor acknowledged that for 18 months he was unaware of the greatly enhanced new federal financial incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act for solar installations, and when fully informed proceeded to continue blocking new solar installations, and depriving the city of $2-3 million/year in utility savings.

On November 4, voters need to decide whether they can afford to rehire a Mayor who is not aware of the basics of state and federal laws, and as a consequence imposes huge financial hardship on the community and violates every norm of sound financial management.

Notes:

• This whole problem of addressing the huge maintenance issue in the water & sewer system is addressed comprehensively in Episode 3 of Geoff Epstein’s Access Framingham show: What’s Ahead for Framingham? Why the Framingham Sewer System is Still a Ticking Time Bomb
• Prior articles also deal with this issue:
  1. Framingham's Sewer System Is a 'Ticking Time Bomb Underground'
  2. Framingham Mayor Hides Big Problems in the Water & Sewer System