The Onset Board of Water Commissioners is proposing an estimated 20% rate increase for Onset water users.

While the Commissioners have decided to wait until the public hearing on the proposal to finalize the amount, on Wednesday Board of Water Commissioners Clerk Brian O'Hearne said the base rate for water users will likely increase by 20%.

“We have to increase the rates,” O’Hearne said. “We can not use the surplus [fund] anymore,” to support the District’s operational costs.

All of the operating costs related to the Onset Water Department are financed by the sale of water. The District collects its money from approximately 3,000 metered homes. And, while the income from these meters has remained the same for years, the District’s expenditures have continued to increase, O’Hearne said.

Board of Water Commissioner Chairman Mark Maxim said the rate hike is needed to cover the increasing cost of employee health insurance and retirement funding, among other bills.

“[The District] is not trying do to anything extra,” Maxim said. “A lot of the [rising] costs are out of our hands.”

O’Hearne added the new state law requiring health insurance coverage be expanded to include employee's children under 26-years-old who are still in school will cost the District upwards of $12,000 this fiscal year.

All the employees of the Onset Water District and the Commissioners get 99% of their healthcare covered through the organization, according to Maxim.

The last time the District increased water rates was in 2006.

The Onset Fire District Board of Water Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the proposed water increase  on Wednesday, May 11 at 6 p.m. at the Onset Water Department office building located at 15 Sand Pond Road in Onset.