JAY — Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere plans to update selectpersons on Monday, Sept. 8, on the receipt of the $31,643 payment an arbitrator concluded that the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant owed for overbilling the town last year.
She will also discuss the proposed amendment to the joint wastewater treatment agreement.
Livermore Falls, which owns the plant, shares the cost of operating and maintaining the plant with Jay, based on sewage treated at the plant.
The independent arbitrator stated in his report that the overbilling was related to employee insurances and sewer clerk health insurance costs.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Town Office.
The arbitrator also recommended that the two towns establish a new agreement that clearly outlines the shared costs.
Selectmen, two Livermore Falls sewer trustees, two Jay selectpersons and both town managers have been working on a new cost-sharing agreement for several months.
The amendment to the 1997 agreement for wastewater treatment proposes that 98 percent of the Livermore Falls Sewer Department superintendent’s payroll and benefits will be attributed to the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant. Jay will pay the appropriate percentage of these costs as outlined in the agreement. This year, Jay’s share is 52.3 percent and Livermore Falls’ share is 47.7 percent.
The proposal also calls for 82 percent of the Livermore Falls two plant operators’ payroll and benefits to be attributed to the plant. The costs will be shared the same way as the superintendent’s payroll and benefits.
Five percent of the Livermore Falls sewer clerk and 1.25 percent of the Livermore Falls treasurer’s payroll and benefits would also be attributed to the plant. The costs will be shared the same way.
Jay would also pay a flat fee of $125 per month to Livermore Falls for Town Office administrative costs, such as heat, electrical power, telephone, copier, computer, office supplies and related items.
The town manager, two sewer department superintendents and the Livermore Falls sewer clerk would meet once a year to determine if the five cost-sharing allocations are an accurate representation of the actual shared costs.
Livermore Falls sewer trustees will take up the proposed agreement at their Sept. 16 meeting.
In other matters Monday, Jay selectpersons will discuss what to do with the town-owned 2.05 acres with an older 32- by 67-foot barn at the intersection of Hyde Road and Route 133.
Selectpersons requested at their last meeting that the assessing agent evaluate the property now that a house was demolished to make way for line-of-sight improvements.
The new valuation of the land is $20,050 and the barn is $20,380 for a total value of $40,430.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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