Mount Desert to vote on wastewater plant

MOUNT DESERT – Local voters will decide whether to approve a new, multi-million-dollar wastewater treatment plant in the local village of Somesville when they gather next week for their annual town meeting.

Mount Desert will hold ballot elections from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, May 5, at the Somesville Fire Station. The open floor session of the town meeting will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, at Mount Desert Elementary School in the local village of Northeast Harbor.

Michael MacDonald, Mount Desert’s town manager, said Thursday that voters will be asked to approve borrowing $6.5 million to replace the 37-year-old wastewater treatment plant in Somesville. He said the plant was built to last only 20 years, and the annual maintenance costs at the facility are starting to exceed the benefit of keeping it going.

“The parts are getting more and more difficult to get,” MacDonald said.

Over a 20-year loan, the $6.5 million bond would result in $2.27 million in interest for an overall cost of $8.77 million.

Voters will be asked to consider an overall proposed 2008-2009 municipal budget of $12.7 million, including $5.1 million in school costs. A required second ballot vote on the school budget will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, at the Somesville Fire Station, according to MacDonald.

If adopted, the proposed budget would result in a tax rate increase from $5.35 per $1,000 of each property’s value to $5.75 per $1,000 of each property’s value, the town manager said.

Voters also will be asked to consider allowing residents to pay their tax bills in monthly installments instead of just once a year and to consider the possibility of building a 32-by-32-foot addition onto the southeast corner of the town office. MacDonald said there will be no formal construction project to approve, but town officials want to stimulate discussion of expanding the police station and municipal offices.

In elections, Kathy Branch is seeking re-election to the Board of Selectmen, but incumbent Chairman Ernest Coombs has decided not to run again. Jean Bonville and Charles Bucklin also are running for selectman seats. No one successfully returned candidacy papers to run for school board or high school trustee, so those positions will have to be filled by write-in candidates, according to Deputy Town Clerk Jennifer McWain.