New Fee In Westborough For Stormwater Utility Set To Begin In July

WESTBOROUGH, MA — Most property owners in Westborough will begin to pay a new fee this summer aimed at maintaining and improving the town's stormwater collection system.

Residents will pay the stormwater utility fee quarterly, and the size of the payment will be based on the size of impervious area on a given property — areas like roofs, driveways and parking lots that don't absorb rainfall.

Runoff from impervious areas often leads to flooding, and increases the burden on the town's stormwater system. Months of heavy rain in the region have overloaded the stormwater system several times, causing street and interior flooding. Groundwater saturation has also contributed to flooding, according to the Westborough Conservation Commission.

“A stormwater utility operates just like an electric or drinking water utility. Fees collected from property owners go into a dedicated fund to pay specifically for the work of operating, maintaining and improving public stormwater infrastructure,” the town says.

The stormwater utility fee will go into effect July 1. Single-family property owners with impervious areas that total 500 to 4,000 feet will pay the lowest fee at nearly $58 per year, or $14.42 per quarter. The town will bill non-residential property owners and the single-family properties with 10,001+ square-feet of impervious area at a rate of $4.18 per 2,000 square-feet quarterly. A residential property with 20,000 square feet of impervious area, for example, would pay $48.10 per quarter.

Town Meeting approved Westborough's stormwater utility in 2023. Many other communities in the state use stormwater utility to pay for upkeep, including Shrewsbury, Ashland, Millis and Bellingham.