Select Board Waffles On $43 Million Sewer Expansion In Somerset Area

After initially voting 3-2 to include a $43.3 million sewer expansion project in the Somerset area on the 2026 Annual Town Meeting warrant, the Select Board backtracked late in their meeting last Wednesday and voted to reconsider their previous motion. It’s now unclear whether the capital project, which has been planned for years, will go before voters in the spring.

“I’m very concerned about us loading everything onto the tax base,” Select Board member Matt Fee said. “I just worry, financially, with everything we face, that this is just another straw on the camel’s back.”

A major sewer project identified in the town’s sewer master plan, the expansion would bring sewer service to more than 900 properties in the Somerset area, along with water main, drainage, and roadway improvements.

At first, Fee and Brooke Mohr joined Malcom MacNab in the majority, voting to advance the project to the warrant. But immediately after, Fee expressed a desire to change his vote, and after some further discussion about future capital projects, Mohr made a motion to reconsider. Fee and Mohr then joined Tom Dixon and chair Dawn Hill, who had initially opposed adding the project to the warrant.

No further vote was taken to remove the article from the warrant, and the final decision was left open. The Select Board will revisit the project next month.

“I think we have to go forward with it,” MacNab said. “People are going to leave the island because their taxes are going up, or they’re going to leave the island because Hummock Pond is green. We have to do this.”

The Select Board members who joined the motion to reconsider largely cited the same concern: cost. In total, voters will be asked to approve roughly $200 million in borrowing this spring if all capital projects under consideration are ultimately included on the warrant.

“I’m very concerned,” Hill said. “During our strategic plan, we really didn’t want to stack this many capital debt exclusions on the same warrant.”

Hill also mentioned that adding sewer to Somerset could allow for further development, which some voters might oppose.

“I’m not sure that this is going to pass, with people’s development concerns,” she said. “What immediately comes to my mind is that this is going to open up, not to scapegoat them, pools. All these lots are going to be able to have pools now, where their septic [systems] were, and people voting at Town Meeting get very upset about that idea.”

As capital projects continue to stack up, especially with the Select Board voting unanimously to advance another funding proposal to build a new Our Island Home nursing facility to the ballot, Select Board members worry about the willingness of voters to support expenses.

Fee also suggested that the sewer expansion could be partially funded by betterments levied on homeowners in the area. Town staff agreed to look into the possibility.

The project is still under design, and the cost could change. The Select Board will make a final decision early next year, once design is complete.

The town is looking for funding from a state program called the Clean Water State Revolving Fund that provides low-cost financing for projects that improve water quality. The Somerset sewer expansion may end up being contingent on that funding: if no money is received, the town is likely to decide against moving forward with the project.

If the sewer expansion proposal ultimately does end up on the warrant and voters opt to support it, construction is slated to begin in the spring of 2027 and wrap-up in 2029.

As with almost all capital projects, a delay could cause costs to increase. Because of this, town staff recommended keeping the expansion on the warrant, at least until the state’s funding decisions were made.