To the Editor: 06.22.2025

Town Times

449MainStreet

Watertown,CT 06795

To the Editor,

The Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) has voted to start paying Waterbury invoices at the actual billed rate, rather than short paying them as they had for the last seven years. When asked when Watertown rates would be raised to match the Waterbury rates, the Town Attorney stated there was no plan to do so at this time as we had “plenty of money to pay the invoices.”  In other words, the

$10 million in reserve saved to pay off a portion of our $34 million judgment to Waterbury would now be used to make up the difference between the two rates, rather than increasing Watertown rates. 

Additionally, the Town Council gave the Town Manager 60 days to have a task force explore possible solutions to satisfy the judgment. As the judgment amount increases by almost $17,000 daily due to 18% compound interest, over $1,000,000 will be added to the unpaid balance by the end of the 60-day task force project. The Council’s lack of urgency to satisfy this judgment is appalling. A better-led government would treat this as the disaster it is.  WSA and Fire District reserve funds must be used to pay down the judgment immediately to reduce interest costs.  An immediate analysis must be made of the financial impact of this judgment on individual ratepayers based on their water and sewer usage. Without this analysis, a proper decision cannot be made on the task force’s recommendations. Is the Council’s lack of urgency politically motivated? Are they just kicking the can down the road past the November election and planning to clean up the mess after that?

Sincerely,

Richard Rozanski

35 REYNOLDS STREET WATERTOWN,CT06795

PHONE:203-217-8424