WOBURN - The City Council Tuesday night enthusiastically supported tweaked water and sewer bill estimates that call for a $49 increase in residential rates this year, nearly half of what was originally projected by Mayor Thomas McLaughlin earlier this month.

On Monday night, dissatisfied members of the council's Ordinance Committee essentially asked McLaughlin to revise the proposed water and sewer budget in order to decrease a projected $90 jump in residential rates.

The city's $16.9 million water and sewer budget was approved by the council last June, although the actual breakdown of rates was not determined until the beginning of September.

According to McLaughlin and City Auditor Gerald Surette, in just a day's time, they were able to identify three areas where $300,000 worth of reductions could be made.

Surette also informed the delighted aldermen that public works officials were underestimating residential water payments by $253,000.

"Myself and Gerry Surette spent a lot of time today working on figures. These changes now result in a water and sewer rate increase of $49," concluded McLaughlin, who detailed $300,000 in reductions to indirect costs, debt payments, and outlay expenses.

Although his counterparts heaped praise upon the mayor and Surette for their efforts, City Council President Charles Doherty criticized the coordination between key department heads, especially when an apparent lack of communication almost led to a rate structure that was $40 higher than necessary.

The Ward 1 Alderman was the lone dissenter in the subsequent 8-to-1 vote to approve the $49 increase in water rates. Currently, residents pay a flat $514 fee, in semi-annual installments, for all water and sewer services.

"Going from $90 to $49 is a significant adjustment," said Doherty, who was particularly frustrated that public works officials had initially failed to recognize over $250,000 of anticipated residential water revenues.

Doherty also questioned whether other potential reductions and unrealized revenue sources were properly considered by city officials during their latest review of the budget.

According to the City Council president, he still believed that Woburn's Mass. Water Resource Authority (MWRA) assessment should be reduced by $400,000 next year in order to account for the discontinuation of a municipal aid agreement between the city and the Town of Wilmington.

Although Woburn draws much of its own water, the city does augment its supply as a partial customer with the quasi-public agency. Final assessments released by MWRA officials earlier this summer call for Woburn to contribute $12.5 million this year for water and sewer services.

That figure represents a $1.4 million or 13 percent jump in assessments from the year prior, the bulk of which stems from a $1 million increase in water service fees.

According to Doherty, because the MWRA bases its current assessments on consumption from the year prior, Woburn is being asked to pay $400,000 for water that is no longer being provided to Wilmington through the aid agreement.

The city allowed the neighboring town to tap into its infrastructure in exchange for a 10 percent surcharge on what the MWRA was billing Woburn for the water.

However, Wilmington has since been allowed to pipe directly into the MWRA's pipelines, ending the need for the municipal aid agreement.

"Our assessment is based upon the volume of water we used in 2007. In that volume, we had $400,000 that went through Woburn to the town of Wilmington," said Doherty, who believed that city officials should either ask MWRA officials to account for the drop in consumption or approach the neighboring municipality for recompense.

"I did look at the contract and I sent it off to [Kopelman & Paige attorney] Mark Reich to see if we could go to Wilmington to recover those costs," responded Surette.

The City Council president also continued to press the mayor and the city auditor for not calculating a promised increase in commercial water revenues.

According to Doherty, various officials had claimed that commercial entities would begin making higher payments to the city for water usage once new meters were installed across Woburn.

When the council was asked to appropriate approximately $700,000 in funding for the meter replacement program, the aldermen were told that the upgrades would result in a surge in commercial water costs.

Several aldermen, including Ward 7 Alderman Raymond Drapeau, had previously called upon Surette and public works officials to account for those promised revenue increases.

"We have one department telling us expectations are for $375,000 to $500,000 [in new revenues]," said Doherty. "Currently, right now, we have no documentation from any department that the $700,000 we spent is going to save us a dime."

According to the city auditor, he has seen no evidence to date that would justify an alteration to estimated commercial water bill revenues.

If that money was to materialize, it would be placed in enterprise funds, which could later be used to stabilize or reduce water and sewer bills.