HAMPDEN – The corporation that owns Pine Tree Landfill will have to wait a bit longer to get the town’s help in attaining a new type of tax-exempt financing.

Casella Waste Systems Inc. has applied to the Finance Authority of Maine for a tax-exempt bond to pay for capital improvements at Pine Tree and several of its other locations, including the West Old Town Landfill.

FAME has reviewed Casella’s application and now needs a letter from the affected municipalities, including Hampden, stating that the proposed projects would not increase the demand on public facilities. At Pine Tree, the application lists construction work, upgrades to the landfill’s gas-burning flare, a gas-to-electricity project and a plan to address groundwater contamination at the site.

The Town Council already has approved those projects, but Casella also listed various equipment purchases, other infrastructure improvements and investigation into a proposed expansion at Pine Tree on the FAME application.

The wording on those three items was too vague and involved projects the council has yet to approve, several councilors noted at Monday’s meeting.

“If that was cleared up a little more, that would have gotten a second from me,” Councilor Andrew Colford said after another councilor’s motion to grant the request failed for lack of a second.

The town has yet to receive an application on the proposed expansion, which would boost the 6 million-cubic-yard landfill’s capacity by nearly 50 percent. The project is on hold while the state Department of Environmental Protection determines whether the expansion would benefit the public.

Don Meagher, Casella’s manager of planning and development, agreed to clarify the FAME letter and present it to the council at a later date.