Households across the greater Hartford area could be paying more for water and sewer service starting in 2027, as the Metropolitan District Commission has put forward a budget that would raise treated-water rates by roughly 4% and grow the sewer budget by just under 6%. The changes, if adopted, could add about $114 a year to a typical residential customer's combined water and sewer bill.
The proposal, covered by WFSB on Nov. 8, had already been detailed by Windsor Patch on Nov. 5. It would push the treated-water rate from $3.91 to $4.06 per hundred cubic feet, according to The Metropolitan District’s proposed 2027 budget book. The sewer user charge would climb from $5.90 to $6.38 per hundred cubic feet under the same proposal. Those figures feed into the overall bill increase that a typical residential customer could see next year.
The Metropolitan District, often referred to as the MDC, provides water and wastewater service to eight member communities: Bloomfield, East Hartford, Hartford, Newington, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor. Water operations are funded through customer charges and fees, while member towns help cover sewer service through tax assessments rather than direct billing, per the Town Manager's Report.
Where the Sewer Increase Is Coming From
The proposed sewer budget would grow by $6,395,652, or 5.6%, over the prior year's appropriation, the MDC's budget book shows. A large share of that growth is tied to utility costs, which the district says are rising by $2,011,199, or 18.6%, due to current market rates and the Tunnel Pump Station being budgeted for its first full year of activity. That infrastructure, part of the South Hartford storage tunnel system, was initially expected to come online in 2023 but was not anticipated to be operational until fall 2026, according to NEPM.
The sewer budget also includes the Clean Water Project, which funds major upgrades intended to reduce sewage overflows into local waterways. Under the proposal, the associated Clean Water Project Charge would rise from $4.87 to $5.20 per hundred cubic feet effective January 1, 2027, per the MDC's public hearing notice. The monthly sewer customer service charge per connection would also jump from $12.50 to $16.84, a 34.72% change, effective the same date.
Windsor's Separate Tax Assessment Would Also Climb
Beyond household bills, member towns are billed separately for sewer service through tax assessments, with each town's share based on its tax collections compared with those of the other seven communities. In Windsor, that proposed annual sewer assessment would rise from $4,862,485 to $5,400,609, an increase of $538,124, or 11.07%, according to Windsor Patch. That assessment is separate from the combined water and sewer increase households could see on their own MDC bills, which the outlet estimated could push a typical monthly bill from about $101.40 to $110.88, or roughly $114 more a year.
None of these figures are final. The budget and rates have not been adopted, the same report notes, and the Town Manager's Report likewise describes the water budget as funded through customer service charges and fees while the sewer portion is funded through what's known as the Ad Valorem Tax Assessment.
Hearing Set for Tonight, Board Vote Next Month
The overall MDC budget proposal for 2027 totals $250,129,000, an increase of $8,817,610, or 3.65%, from the prior year's appropriation, per the district's budget book. Residents can share their concerns at a public hearing scheduled for 5:30 p.m. tonight in the boardroom at MDC headquarters in Hartford. The District Board is set to consider adopting the budget on December 7.
This isn't the first time MDC customers have faced a steep rate jump. Back in 2020, the district adopted a budget that raised water-use charges by 13.43%, pushing the water rate from $3.50 to $3.97 per hundred cubic feet and the sewer service charge from $6 to $7 a month, according to the Hartford Business Journal. The district attributed that increase in part to a government-mandated infrastructure project and a dip in regional water consumption — the same outlet has reported that water sales have fallen by about 3% per year on average in recent years.
