DIXFIELD — Selectmen authorized Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky on Monday to apply for a low-interest loan for sewer work.
The money would come from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and pay for replacing portions of the sewer main beyond the Webb River Bridge to the Peru bridge.
Skibitsky estimated that about $150,000 to $170,000 would be needed. The force main under the Webb River Bridge is currently being replaced as part of the bridge replacement.
In another sewer-related matter, the board authorized hiring RHR Smith & Co., certified public accounts in Buxton, for $2,500 to study the town’s sewer system, including rates, expenditures, budgets and debt, among other financial data.
The results could be used to recommend an increase in sewer rates.
The work is expected to be finished by the end of June, and if a rate increase is needed, it would go into effect during the fourth quarter of the year.
In another matter, the board agreed to ask the Western Valley Access Channel to tape the town’s 2012-13 budget development process.
The first of several budget meetings is set for 5 p.m. March 19.
The annual town meeting is set for 6 p.m. May 24 at Dirigo High School.
Skibitsky said rising tax rates aren’t the result of municipal budgets, which have decreased by 1 percent, but by school and Oxford County taxes, which have risen since 2008.
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