Westminster Needs To Pay Off Old Loan

Westminster Needs To Pay Off Old Loan
April Page Stundtner
News Correspondent

WESTMINSTER — The Holmes Water Park District is at least $10,000 under water with outstanding payments due this calendar year on a loan taken out for water connections for residents tying into what was a new water line 15 years ago.

 The town has paid about $50,000 on the $61,000 USDA loan, but the rest is due, according to the District Representative Scott Nussey, and right now the district and town are unsure how much each resident in the district owes and who has paid in full.
“I would describe the process as somewhat rudderless right now,” said Mr. Nussey.

At Monday’s Department of Public Works meeting, Mr. Nussey attributed the confusion to having both paper and electronic payment trails, missing paper trails that may be in the old town hall and the transfer to the new town hall.

Additionally, the town needs to track people who sold their houses and would have paid their water connection bill in full at the time of sale.

At the time of the water connection, the 50 residents who tied into the new line had the choice to pay a connection bill in full, or roughly $1,400 up front. Residents could also choose to pay $101 per a year for 15 years or approximately $1,500.

Adding to the confusion is that residents, who have wells in the district but did not choose to connect to town water, are also paying a betterment fee and these residents’ records need to be followed, too.

“The first thing you have to do is see what you have yourself,” said DPW Chairwoman Lorraine Emerson to Mr. Nussey, referring to recording all records the Holmes Water Park District does have, “and put it in a spreadsheet and we can see what we can do on our end.”

DPW Commissioner Vance Butterfield said he will check with the town Treasurer and Collector Melody Smith about billing. Ms. Emerson said she may know where additional Water Department records are located in the old town hall.

The district representatives and DPW will reconvene in the near future to review the billing records progress as well as discuss what the final loan payment with the USDA will be.

In other news, the Whitman River Sewer System Improvement project is still in the works. The Sewer Department is working on a final loan number from the USDA to install an in-line sewer storage system, according to Director of Public Works Joshua Hall.

Hall said the DPW needs the number and user fee amounts by the Aug. 24 Board of Selectmen meeting. An article will be put on the Sept. 29 Special Town Meeting warrant for the project. Initial cost estimates were pegged at $2.5 million for the project, which was the cheapest of nine options to deal with a problem with the town exceeding the sewer capacity it was allowed with the Fitchburg treatment center.

In other town news, Batherwick Road is still on the list for being repaved and graded so the water runs off of the road, Hall said. Currently the DPW is waiting for a road design proposal from a consultant, who will assess what needs to be done to the road.

Hall expects that design plans will be presented at the Aug. 24, selectmen’s meeting.