At last week’s Woodstock Selectboard meeting, municipal manager Eric Duffy and vice chair Laura Powell explained the water and sewer bills that were distributed to residents earlier this month.
At the meeting, Duffy explained that this bill is due in early June for nine months of service. He said, “In the past, the town sent out one bill for sewer for the entire year. We’re moving to two per year. On the inverse, the Woodstock Aqueduct would send out four bills a year. We’re going to go down to two. So, there’s a difference in cost there.”
Duffy explained that “last year [during] Town Meeting, the new water department budget got approved. That budget was going to double the water rates [and] that is what has happened.”
The Town of Woodstock officially finalized the purchase of the privately held Woodstock Aqueduct Company on April 30, 2025, with voters approving the acquisition of the water company on Oct. 29, 2024, for $920,000.
In a follow-up interview with the Standard, Powell elaborated on the new water bill residents of Woodstock are receiving.
She began by saying, “This newest bill is effectively three bills in one — it’s a sewer bill for three quarters and [a water bill for] three quarters. Previously, sewer bills have been sent on an annual basis and the [Woodstock] Aqueduct [Company] billed for water on a quarterly basis. The town is combining them for a singular utility bill, and the Finance Department is considering moving forward with a semiannual (2x a year) billing cycle for both — essentially averaging the billing cycles from both utilities. The Finance Department is working on having the next bill out by June 30.”
When asked specifically about the rate increase, Powell said, “The water rates under the [Woodstock] Aqueduct [Company] were unsustainably low, which is the main reason [given by the Aqueduct owner] for not making necessary investments in the water system. Running a safe and secure water utility required a larger budget that funds capital projects and invests in the future of the system. The water department budget has been voted on and approved by voters on Town Meeting Day for the past two years; the rates are then set based on total usage of the system by the selectboard.”
For more on this, please see our April 30 edition of the Vermont Standard.
