Town to borrow interim financing for sewer project

OXFORD —  The town plans to take out an $18.5 million loan from Maine Department of Environmental Protection as interim financing for its town sewer project.

At the February 7 selectmen's meeting, Town Manager Michael Chammings said the town was applying for a several million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture he expected would off-set the project's cost.

Chammings reported that because of federal budgeting, the USDA funding schedule had been pushed forward and expected to hear about the grant by March.

In the meantime, he requested the town take out a 20-year, $18.5 million loan made available by Maine DEP, mentioning that interest rates on the loan were less than 1 percent. 

In a December special town meeting, Oxford voters authorized Chammings, as town treasurer, and Selectboard Chair Floyd Thayer, to issue bonds worth $20.225 million.

The town has an "aggressive" schedule for engineering and construction of a new sewage treatment plant, Chammings said.

Chammings told board members that preliminary engineering and surveying was going forward while the town secured funding to begin construction at Welchville Dam, at the intersection of routes 26 and 121.

According to a January 3 cash flow projection from engineering firm Woodard and Curran, non-construction fees in the project have cost $95,000 to date.

The entire cost for Phase I of the project, which includes constructing a treatment facility and extending sewer lines along Route 26 from the Mechanic Falls town line to the Skeetfield Road intersection, is estimated to cost $13.725 million.

The second phase, extending the sewer lines to central and northern Oxford, is estimated to cost around $9.29 million.

According to the Woodard and Curran projection, construction on the treatment plant is set to begin in April.

Construction costs, according to the projection, would be highest between July and November, with costs running from $1 million to $1.5 million per month.

On Monday, Chammings said the scope and time line of the project had changed very little from preliminary estimates.