English
Spanish
Portuguese
Arabic
Haitian Creole
Chinese (Traditional)
By Barbara Taormina
REVERE – The City Council’s Subcommittee on Elder Affairs voted to support a motion from committee Chairwoman Angela Guarino-Sawaya and Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky that the city reinstate the outside water meter program to let seniors monitor water use outside without adding the sewage charge. The motion also called for the Water and Sewer Department to provide outside adapters for under $40 to allow them to take meters to the department for the proper credit.
Dept. of Public Works Superintendent Chris Ciaramella met with the subcommittee to explain that outdoor water meters are being phased out because they had problems with freezing during the winter months among other problems. They are being replaced by indoor meters which will no longer have to be brought in to the DPW to calculate the senior discount. But the problem is that the new indoor meters cost around $400 and they need to be installed by a plumber, which can run around $1,000.
Committee members proposed having the city replace and install the new indoor meters.
“We should do whatever we can to make it possible for long-time residents to stay in their homes and stay in our community,” said Councillor-at-Large Juan Pablo Jaramillo.
But City Chief Financial Officer Richard Viscay said preliminary estimates of that cost were $1.1 million. “We’re trying to figure out ways to make this less of a burden on seniors,” said Viscay, who added that he is still waiting for information on how many outdoor meters are still being used.
“We had a lot of problems with the old hose meters,” said Ward 4 Councillor and former DPW Supt. Paul Argenzio, who added that there was a lot of fraud with the meters. “We need to talk to the mayor and see if there are some reductions in the cost of the meters. We can also see if we can get plumbers to come in for a reasonable rate.”
“Outside meters are a risk,” said Ciaramella. “Their time has come and gone.”
