LIVERMORE FALLS – Town officials are urging residents to attend a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the town office to learn about and comment on a proposed state community development grant for sewer construction.
The work will be done in conjunction with the state’s plans to rebuild Route 4, Main Street, from Bridge Street to the town line, putting in new storm drains, sidewalks and roadway.
Since the road work will continue from the town line into Pineau Street in Jay, the grant application is being done as a joint proposal, based on the results of a survey done by the Maine Rural Water Association.
The association determined that the project will affect low- and moderate-income people living in the two areas, one of the requirements for the grant. An estimate of the cost to Livermore Falls sewer users is $400,000. Of that amount, the town has received a Rural Development grant for $181,000 and a loan of $223,000, which will do the job, but the loan will have to be repaid by sewer users, possibly resulting in a rate increase.
If an additional grant were received, it would lessen the amount of loan to be repaid, Town Manager Alan Gove said.
Inspection of the line, which was put in in 1911, showed it to be a mess, Sewer Superintendent Kent Mitchell said. “It won’t take a major rebuild of the road,” he noted.
Replacing the line would hopefully ensure future backups and potential collapses, both of which are expensive.
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