Westborough establishes stormwater utility to fund drainage work; voters approve startup budget lines

Westborough voters approved the establishment and initial funding of a stormwater utility enterprise fund at the March 23 annual town meeting, authorizing salary and expense lines to allow operations this fiscal year.

DPW Director Chris Payant explained the utility will allocate stormwater costs by impervious area (commercial parking lots and larger paved surfaces will pay proportionally more), and that rates were adopted by the Select Board earlier in the year. The fee structure is billed similarly to water and sewer service and is designed to pay for maintenance, capital projects and a savings reserve for future stormwater capital work. The new account will be separate from the tax levy and instead will be funded by the bills sent to commercial and residential properties covered by the rate schedule.

Voters approved the initial stormwater line items—salaries of $130,627 and stormwater expenses of $432,028 (vote 276-82). Payant said the appropriation would allow immediate work on known drainage chokepoints and the development of a capital program while noting future projects will be prioritized based on hydraulic modeling and grant opportunities. Several residents asked whether large developments (for example, new commercial parking areas) also had stormwater mitigation built in; Payant and planning staff said site plan reviews include stormwater controls and developers must meet state and local stormwater requirements.

Next steps: the DPW will execute initial maintenance and design work and return with capital proposals as required; bills to property owners will begin under the new utility rules and thereafter will fund the enterprise account.