Belmont Light: Residential Customers To See Electric Rates Jump On Avg. $14/Mo

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Photo: Utility bills will be increasing this winter

The typical Belmont Light residential customer will see their electric rate rise on average $14 a month, according to a consultant’s report provided to the Belmont Municipal Light Board at its Oct. 12 meeting.

The upward adjustment to electric rate design will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023 after an affirmative vote by the board.

“The new rate design allows Belmont Light to keep up with skyrocketing prices in the energy markets, sparked by a dramatic increase in natural gas costs, among a number of other factors while continuing to upgrade its electric delivery system and improve upon its reliability,” said a recent press release from the town’s municipal utility.

The increase comes after more than a decade of stable rates with little fluctuation in an average bill.

The local increase is far less than what one of the major state-wide utilities is proposing.

“In total, the monthly bill of a typical residential electric customer using 600 kWh (kilowatt-hours) will increase from $179 in the winter 2021-2022 season, to approximately $293 for the winter 2022-2023 season,” National Grid said in a press release this month, a jump of 64 percent year-over-year.

The Belmont Light report was provided by PLM Electric Power Engineering, a highly-specialized electric power consulting and design firm based in Marlborough.

The overall revenue increase for all classes is 13.5 percent in 2023. For residential customers with an average usage of 500 kWh, their bill will increase from $111.19 to $125.18 or just about 12 percent. Residential low income customers will see charges jump $8.81 ($69.82 to $78.63) a month which is about a 12.6 percent.

Those who purchase from the utility for commercial heating will see a 12.2 percent increase while large municipal users will see its average bill increase by 5.7 percent, or $552 – $9,624 to $10,176 – with an average 60,000 kWh bill.

While the distribution increase is estimated to be just north of four percent, purchase power is expected to jump by 18 percent.

At these rates, the anticipated revenue in both 2023 and 2024 will be able to fund the utility’s debt repayment and PILOT – payment in lieu of taxes – to the town. But distribution rates will need to increase another six percent to meet the anticipated 2025 overall revenue needs.

Before it votes on approving the new rates, the Municipal Light Board is holding a public forum where it will present in less technical terms the need for an increase while answering any customer’s questions.

The public forum will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Belmont Media Center will also air the public forum on its TV and internet channels, Channel 96 on Comcast, Channel 30 on Verizon, and belmontmedia.org/watch/infotv

Click Here to Join the Public Forum

Four Roads To Be Dug Up To Add New Water Mains

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Photo: Gorham Road

Approximatly a mile of new 8-inch water mains will be laid starting in “a matter of weeks” after the Belmont Select Board approved the fiscal year ’23 Water Main Replacment project at its Oct. 18 meeting.

Department of Public Works Director Jay Marcotte told the board portions of four roads will be dug up to replace the existing pipe. They include:

  • Sycamore Street
  • Chandler Street
  • Gorham Road
  • Chester Road

Estimated by the town to cost $1 million, the town accepted a low bid of $790,070 from Cedrone Trucking of North Billerica. Marcotte said Cedrone has done “acceptable work for many years” having installed more than 11 miles of new pipeline.

Marcotte said three of the streets will be completed before the building season ends with one – still to be determined – beginning in the spring.

Library Friends Annual Book Sale Has Returned Indoors; Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22-23

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Photo: The annual Belmont Library book sale is indoors once again

The Friends of the Belmont Public Library’s annual Book Sale is back indoors after last year’s alfresco event. So come check out all the great, new-to-you titles.

The sale will take place on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 23 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Assembly and Flett rooms of the Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Ave.

The sale’s proceeds allow the Friends to purchase museum memberships, bring authors and demonstrations to the library while adding to the technology available to all patrons.

VOTING: In-Person Early Voting Starts Saturday, Oct. 22; 5,300 Vote By Mail Ballots Have Been Sent To Residents

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Election Day, Nov. 8, Is three weeks away but way wait until then to vote: Belmont voters have two easy and early ways to case their ballots in the upcoming election.

Early In-Person Voting

Get ready to vote in person as Belmont residents will cast their ballots early beginning Saturday, Oct. 22 through Friday, Nov. 4.

Early in-person voting takes place in only one location in town: Belmont Town Hall, 455 Concord Ave. No advance application is required. If you intend to vote early in-person, please do not file a Vote By Mail application.

The dates for early, in-person voting are:
• Saturdays Oct. 22 and 29, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Mondays Oct. 24 and 31, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Tuesdays October 25 and Nov. 1, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Wednesdays October 26 and Nov. 2, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Thursdays October 27 and Nov. 3, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Fridays October 28 and Nov. 4, 8 a.m. – NOON

Early voting ends at Noon, on Friday, Nov. 4.

Early Vote By Mail

Vote Early By Mail ballots have been sent to approximate 5,300 residents who requested them, according to the Town Clerk’s Office.

The application to receive a ballot can be sent to the Town Clerk by 5 p.m. on Nov. 1. Be sure to sign the application, OR write and sign a note with the following information: Name, Belmont address where you live, your mailing address (if different). Then mail the application to Belmont Town Clerk, 455 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478, or drop into the secure dropbox at Town Hall. A voter should submit only one request/application for a Vote by Mail ballot

Check the status of your application and ballot by visiting: www.VoteInMA.com and use “Track my mail in ballot” “Pending” means we have received your application.

When you receive the ballot, VOTE RIGHT AWAY! Sign the inner envelope and mail to: Town Clerk, 455 Concord Ave. Belmont, MA 02478 or drop it into the secure dropbox at Town Hall.

With Chair’s Departure, Planning Board Left Short And Belmont Hill School Parking Project Delayed

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A few weeks ago, Planning Board’s Vice Chair Matthew Lowrie had just finished writing his resignation letter from the board. The longtime Belmont resident was preparing to move from the Town of Homes “in the not so distant future” and wanted to provide the board’s chair, Steve Pinkerton, time to fill his post on a committee facing a heavy agenda for the year ahead.

But as Lowrie prepared to press ”send” on his letter, “a funny coincidence occurred,” as he noticed an email from Pinkerton. The subject of that correspondence: Pinkerton’s own resignation.

Pinkerton’s sudden resignation along with Lowrie’s pending departure has highlighted the shortage of members and has brought to a halt a proposal by the Belmont Hill School to install a parking lot and facilities building near its central campus that was going before the board for a vote at the Planning Board’s Oct. 11 meeting.

Lowrie said Pinkerton had ”very good reasons” to leave his post on the board which he has led for the past two years with ”[grace] and aplomb,” noting his leadership as ”one of the real drivers” in changing town bylaws to address the trend of “supersizing” residential properties.

With Pinkerton’s departure, Lowrie has decided to step into the chair role – “we’ll see for how long” – until new members are appointed to allow the board to move forward with some semblance of continuity.

With so many changes over the past weeks, the proposal by the Belmont Hill School to add to and revamp its campus parking got caught up in the board’s turmoil.

“I think we’re highlighting that we’re in a little bit of a tenuous place at the moment,” Lowrie told the Zoom audience.

The parking plan – made up of a new parking lot and Facilities Building on land east of Prospect Street, a more formalized parking area adjacent to the Athletic Center and redesign of existing parking and drop off site at the front of the school at Prospect and Marsh streets – has received “a lot of input from abutters and others,” said Lowrie, noting that a greater number of participants were attending via Zoom.

The delayed vote was to begin the design site review, which requires three ‘yes’ votes to proceed. The site plan review process provides a level of review that ensures the project will meet development policies and regulations as defined in the town’s bylaws as well as design practices that are commonly accepted within the community.

With Pinkerton resignation, member Karl Haglund not at Tuesday’s meeting and member Renee Guo recusing herself from the process, the school would need to receive an unanimous vote from the remaining three members to move the project forward.

While that was likely, the board and the town began talks with the school to withdraw the application for the time being to “let us get our planning board back in order” said Lowrie with the Select Board adding at least one full-time member in the next weeks.

“Do you think it would be cleaner and neater if you were to withdraw?” Lowrie asked Kelly Durfee Cardoza, a principal of the Avalon Consulting Group who was representing the school at the meeting. “I don’t see it in anybody’s best interest for there to be a vulnerability to whatever decision we reach based on the composition of the planning board,” he said.

Cardoza told the board that while the school wished to proceed with the review vote rather than having to wait an undetermined amount of time, Lowrie’s suggestion along with the board’s assurances that the delay would be a short one, the school will withdraw the current application without prejudice to refiling at the board’s next meeting on Oct. 18.

The next step is to seat a full-time member and be prepared to once again accept the school’s plan in the first weeks of November.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Lowrie.

First Sign Of The Holidays: Town OKs Lions Club Christmas Tree Sale Starting Nov. 25

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Photo: Let’s get a tree!

The first inkling of Christmas has arrived in Belmont as the Select Board approved the Belmont Lions Club’s 65th annual Holiday Tree and Wreath Sale to take place at the War Memorial Delta across from the MBTA commuter rail station at 1 Common St.

The sale, which began in 1957, will begin the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, Nov. 25, at approximately 2 p.m. While the final day will be on Christmas Eve, Saturday, Dec. 24, it will actually closes when the last tree and wreath is sold which occurs well before the final day.

Lions’ Co-President Tom Hevey said despite inflation and the high cost of transportation, tree prices will see only small increases from last year.

In addition to the tree sale, the club is making a donation of holiday tree lights that will be added to two
mature trees on the Delta, to be installed by Belmont Light.

As one of the largest retailer of Christmas trees in the area, the Lions Club sale includes wreaths, mantle pieces, baskets and many other holidays items. The trees come from the same farm in Nova Scotia since 1957, has been supplying the club.

DPW’s First Cardboard Event On Saturday, Oct. 22

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Photo: Bring it on

The Belmont Department of Public Works is holding a special pre-holiday cardboard drop-off event this Saturday, Oct. 22 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the DPW Yard on 37 C St. The event will allow Belmont residents to get rid of excess cardboard materials before the holiday season. The applies to all cardboard and only cardboard.

There is a $5 fee per vehicle.

All cardboard should be flattened prior to drop off and placed in the trunk or rear of the car 

Residents can pre-register here: https://belmontma.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=30003&AdminPreview=1

Opinion: A New Library Is A Building Block Of The Commonwealth of Belmont

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Photo: An aerial view of the schematic design of the proposed Belmont Public Library (credit: Oudens Ello Architecture)

By Mary Lewis

In 1980, Massachusetts passed Proposition 2 ½, a measure limiting increases on property taxes in municipalities to 2.5 percent per year. This ballot initiative was one of a string of similar laws inspired by California’s much more draconian Proposition 13. The story of what happened to public services in my home state of California offers lessons for Belmont as it faces crucial funding choices on Nov. 8.

I grew up in California in the 1970s and 1980s, and I can clearly remember the Prop 13 before and after. The biggest impact was on schools. But many other public services, from parks and pools to recreation centers and libraries were also affected. Before Prop. 13, I could walk to a branch library. Afterwards, it closed for good. Today, a private fitness studio occupies the building once filled with kids listening to story hour. I learned something from that experience: once the funding for a public building or service is taken away, it usually doesn’t come back.

Fortunately, Massachusetts’ Proposition 2 ½, although drawing on a similar desire to rein in taxation, had the wisdom to allow municipalities to pass debt exclusions, which allow adjustments to property taxes for fixed periods of time in order to fund capital expenditures like libraries.

We live in a Commonwealth – a term that literally means what is shared and beneficial for the members of a given community. It was in Massachusetts that the building believed to house the oldest public library in the United States was built. Belmont is the heir to that public library tradition. Our library ranks in the top ten of towns and cities for highest circulation per opening hour across the Commonwealth, and is a social center for our town. That statistic means we are in the same company as cities like Cambridge, Boston, and Quincy despite being a small town. But our library building is at the end of its life. Its systems are failing, and it would be irresponsible to try to fix these with band aids, only to watch them fail again – throwing away our tax dollars. Instead, we need a building that can last.

The new plan for the library includes not only traditional library services, but envisions what a 21st century library needs to be: a place to borrow books, of course, but also a place where job-seekers can have secure internet, or book a room for a Zoom interview. A site for hosting talks for the whole community. And yes, in the 21st century, it can and must be a site where people needing wheelchairs can finally make it to the main floor, in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act, which was passed more than 30 years ago and with which our library is not compliant.

Library use rates aren’t just statistics; they’re an experience – yours, your child’s, or your grandchild’s. And when libraries close, it’s that experience that is gone: story hours lost, books unborrowed, community meetings not held, and stable internet access untapped for those who don’t have it at home. Make no mistake, if we have to shut our library, we will violate state certification rules, and there’s no guarantee neighboring towns will let us use their libraries under such circumstances. The Minuteman Library Network requires viable libraries that give into the system, not just take. Decertification has happened before. We cannot let it happen to us.

Libraries, schools, community centers, recreational facilities, and parks. These are the building blocks of the common good – the Commonwealth of Belmont. Let us renew our commitment to community, and let it thrive. The Commonwealth spirit is alive and well in Belmont: the cost of this new library is being partly offset by the largest private fundraising drive in Belmont history, pledges we will lose if we don’t pass a debt exclusion to commit public funding for the rest. Please join me in voting Yes on Question 5.  You can vote early at Town Hall. Or you can go to your polling place on November 8.  You can still register to vote until Oct. 29. Vote for the common good, the Commonwealth of Belmont.

Mary Lewis is a Town Meeting Member from Precinct 1.

Late Minute Tie Vs Top Ten Reading Has Belmont Field Hockey Prepped For Playoffs

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Photo: Belmont Lola Rocci (No. 4) reacts to scoring the tying goal vs. Reading

More than a half century ago just a few miles to the east along the Charles River, a spunky Harvard football 11 scored 16 points in the final 42 seconds against a top 20 ranked Yale squad to tie the contest, which the Harvard Crimson would proclaim in its headline: “Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29.”

While Belmont High Field Hockey’s tying tally against 8th-ranked Reading on Friday, Oct. 14 at Harris Field came with six minutes remaining in the game and there was no league title on the line, the “victory” was just important as the Marauders ability to take charge of the game, dominating the final two quarters over the one-loss Rockets, demonstrated a team ready for the Division 1 tournament which starts in three weeks.

With just under seven minutes remaining and with a penalty corner, Belmont’s Lola Rocci sent a Alex Townsend’s pass by Reading’s goalkeeper into the back of the net, sparking a joyous celebration after the squad spent nearly 50 minutes chasing a goal to knot things up.

With the tie, Belmont currently stands at 8-4-1 with four games remaining with an MIAA power rating of 13th in Division 1, which will secure a home game in the first round of 32 in the playoffs.

For longtime Marauders Head Coach Jess Smith, the game against the type of team waiting for them in the playoffs.

“Everything is coming together at the right time,” said Smith. “The kids are playing so well together. They know their roles and they’re working hard all the time.”

The Marauders took the game to the Rockets as they had a big advantage in 50/50 chances where both players have an equal opportunity to possess the ball. Arlington got off to a solid start as Ava Goodwin scored on the SpyPonders’ first shot at goal at 10:22 in the first quarter. Most of the first half was a battle for the midfield as Belmont took advantage of its speed and stick work to have a slight advantage on the pitch.

The SpyPonders started the second half on the front foot missing a pair of shots to the far post and forced goal keep Julia Herilihy to reject an in-close attempt in the initial five minutes. But soon the Marauders’ midfield of Rocci, MacKenzie Clark, Tess Desantos and Layne Doherty stamped their mark on the game and controlled the flow of the match.

While Arlington was able to have a sniff at goal, the Marauders would have the better chances including a shot by attack Carly Gaziano that slipped by goalie Myles Lakin and heading to the net until the SpyPonder keep dove and swept it out of danger. But Belmont would not be denied the point when Belmont’s press earned the penalty corner that resulted in Rocci’s equalizer.

“We’ve been working on moving to the ball at every single practice and it’s really sticking to the girls. I mean, if you watch [Rocci] out there, she digs for every single ball and she’s getting it every single time,” said Smith. “They’re all workhorses.”

One of the players is center back Townsend who both anchored the defensive and recorded the assist on Rocci’s goal.

“I think I think the team is feeling good about themselves. A tie against Reading, for us, is a victory for sure. That means we’re kind of in with the big dogs. So, it’s amazing. It’s really amazing,” she said.

Belmont’s next game is Tuesday, Oct. 18 away at Arlington away before coming home on Thursday vs. Woburn. The final week of the season finds Belmont in an important away match with Lexington on Monday, Oct. 24 and the finale at home welcoming the Grey Ghosts of Westford Academy on Thursday, Oct. 27.

“I just hope that we can keep the momentum going and the games that we won the first time and kind of just keep the fire that we had on the field tonight,” said Smith.

Not To Be Missed: 2022 Broadway Night, Performing Art’s Cabaret, This Friday, Saturday

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Photo: The 2022 Broadway Night poster

Belmont High School Performing Arts Company presents Broadway Night on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. in the Belmont High School Theater.

The dance number

Broadway Night is the company’s annual Musical Theater Cabaret, which kicks off the 2022-3 season. Students perform classic show tunes and contemporary work from new musical theater composers in an evening of song, dance and storytelling. The show features solo, duet and group songs, with a mix of humor, heart, romance and high-energy fun, plus a dance number choreographed by the PAC Musical Choreographer Jenny Lifson.

Admission: $5 students/children, $12 adults

Advance Ticket Purchase encouraged: Ticket sales and more info at bhs-pac.org