The biggest thing happening in my little town of 1,349 people this week was everyone getting their 2026 fiscal year water bills.

Backing up a bit, about two or three years ago, the town did have a meeting that about six people attended (my spouse was one of the six) where they talked about the changes that would be coming to the water system in town.

Basically, gone were the days of the $47.00 water bill. The water pipes in town were getting old and needed to be replaced (and should have been replaced long before we even moved to town 27 years ago). And because the town had kept kicking the can down the road and delaying the obvious, now it was time for the townspeople to start paying for new water pipes that were going to be put in. On top of that, it was decided that the high school in our district was too old and, poof! Time to build a new one that everyone in both Spencer AND East Brookfield would be paying for with increased taxes, whether you have a child going to school there or not.

So, over the past five years the people living in the youngest town in the Commonwealth have had to take on a lot of extra expenses, whether they like it or not. But the latest water bills have come as a shock to all of us and many of us, myself included, are wondering how we’re going to pay these bills.

What has happened is the town took it upon themselves to increase the cost per gallon from one cent last year to almost 6 cents this year. To start with, even if you don’t use your water, you’re hit with an automatic $300.00 right off the top. So if you’re one of several in town who leave for the winter, you’re still paying $300.00 every three months. For not even using a drop of water. I’m guessing the increase is because all the pipes have been laid and now it’s time to pay. I don’t know. But it’s ludicrous.

Our bills are sent quarterly. The most recent bill was supposed to be sent in July, to be received on July 1 but it was not received until August 1. I won’t tell you how much my water bill was, but I will tell you it’s astronomical for three people, at the same amount of water used last billing cycle, and it rivals my mortgage payment. So if the town thinks they’re going to get the whole payment at once, they’re sadly mistaken because under our budget, that’s not possible.

Another thing that is bothersome is the Eye on Water app the town recommends you use to monitor your water usage. In going to this site last night to sign up, I entered in my account number, only to see that it’s connected to an entirely different person than myself or my husband. So guess who’s getting a call about THAT tomorrow? Or whenever the people that work for or with the water department and billing department are in. Because in this little one-horse town, it’s a crap shoot as to when you can actually reach anyone who works in any of these departments.

As for drilling a well, which many of the townspeople are now discussing, it’s not all its cut out to be. We have friends who have a well and they absolutely detest it. They’re not crazy about drinking their water because it has too much silt floating in it. So if they want to drink it, they boil it. They ruined their pool because of it. They need to use pumps and filters and need to have them and the well itself maintained. And when they lose electricity, they lose their water. So a well is a big no for me.