Peabody Finance Committee Advances $200 Trash Fee and Water Rate Hikes

PEABODY -- June 2, 2026, Peabody Finance Committee votes 4-1 to advance a $200 annual residential trash fee to the full City Council. Mayor Edward Betancourt, citing a $6.2 million health insurance cost increase and a $648,000 spike in prevailing-wage payments to trash hauler Republic Services, told the panel the fee, frozen for five years and covering structures of four units or fewer, is needed to push the city's Proposition 2 and one-half ceiling back from two years to five. The full council then voted 8-2 to draft and advertise the ordinance. On water and sewer rates, Finance Director Mike Gingras showed MWRA water purchases climbing to $3.4 million in FY27, and the council voted 8-2 to advertise an 8% rate increase and 8-2 to bake in a 5% increase for FY28; a proposal to eliminate the existing 10% early-payment discount was rejected 6-4 by the full council. Finance Committee member Councilor Ann Manning-Martin, the lone no vote on the trash fee, argued that "a fee is a tax and this is a prop two and a half override" and that residents deserved to see documented budget cuts before any new levy.