‘Can’t be right’: Water bill for Winthrop restaurant quadruples, town works to address concerns

WINTHROP, Mass. — Some residents in Winthrop are seeing a sharp spike in their water bills, including a restaurant owner who claims her bill quadrupled.

Chalobon Kaewnoy is one of the owners of Thai Taki in Winthrop. On the corner of Jefferson St. and Putnam St., she said her restaurant typically sees a water bill around $2,700 per quarter. However, last quarter, she said that bill jumped to $11,000

“That’s a lot. That’s a lot of money.” Kaewnoy said. “There must have been a mistake. That can’t be right.”

In a release sent out to residents on Monday, the town said they’re “investigating each complaint and will make adjustments as warranted.” However, they also said “some of these increases have been attributed to water leaks in homes and irrigation systems, as well as the number of occupants.”

For Kaewnoy, who’s been running her business since 2022, she said their usage hasn’t changed, but their meter has.

“It doesn’t make sense. We’re happy to pay but not this much,” Kaewnoy. “Our restaurant is only like 2500 square feet and it’s not like we’re busy every day. On the busy day, our water usage is probably 150 [cubic feet] and that’s it. Not like 500 [cubic feet] a day. That’s crazy.”

Kaewnoy has been working with the town to figure out what went wrong here, but the town told her the bill is accurate; and she owes more than $23,000, which includes interest on the $11,000 she refused to pay. The restaurant owner says there’s no way the town’s estimated meter readings are accurate, which is why she started recording the meter every night so when her next bill come, she’s prepared.

“No one wants to pay for the water that they didn’t use,” Kaewnoy explained.

The owner says she plans on hosting a community session for residents to compare bills and see what can be done to fix the issue.

She says she hopes it is resolved soon because licenses for the restaurant to be operational need to be renewed by the end of the year, and those licenses can’t be renewed if there are unpaid bills.

Kaewnoy says she doesn’t want to pay the bill until the issue is fixed because she fears her business won’t get refunded.

Boston25 reached out to Winthrop Town Manager Anthony Marino about these concerns. He directed us to the release sent to residents on Monday.

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