SEDGWICK – As municipalities gear up for the 2007 town meeting season, three Hancock County towns will decide whether to approve a new contract with the Blue Hill-Surry Transfer Station.

Sedgwick will kick off the proceedings on Saturday when residents there vote on the issue. In Brooksville, where the town’s budget committee has recommended against signing the contract, voters will decide the issue on Tuesday. Brooklin residents will vote on the question next month.

The proposed contract has been developed during more than a year of discussions between the owners of the transfer station – Blue Hill and Surry – and the sending towns.

Under the terms of the contract, the fees assessed to those towns are determined through a formula based on the latest census figures and the number of dwellings in town.

The population and dwellings figures are used to determine a number of “units” for each community.

The proposed contract calls for the sending towns to pay $97 per unit, with a 20 percent discount applied to the owner towns. With the discount, Blue Hill and Surry will pay $77.60 per unit.

Despite the discount, the total cost for Blue Hill and Surry will increase this year, reflecting strong growth in recent years.

Brooklin and Brooksville, which have not grown as quickly, would see a decrease in their total costs. Sedgwick would see a small increase in its total fees.

Sedgwick selectmen have recommended that voters approve the contract. “The price is reasonable,” said Selectman Nelson Grindle. “It may not be the best price we could get. But it is a reasonable price for the services they are giving us.”

The price is better than what other area towns who operate their own transfer stations, are paying, Grindle said.

And, he added the service is good. The station is open seven days a week and provides a good recycling program which, he said, has been an important factor for Sedgwick residents.

Even if residents want to try to develop a town transfer station or to join with another town, Grindle said, it makes sense to sign the contract at least for one year. Towns that do not sign the contract will be assessed fees based on last year’s costs plus a percentage increase.

One point of contention in the contract is an open-ended agreement that commits the sending towns to helping cover the closing costs of the demolition debris portion of the transfer station.

According to Blue Hill Selectman John Bannister, who chairs the transfer station board, that part of the agreement helps to ensure that all the towns that are using the landfill help to pay for the closing when that time comes.

Part of the transfer station budget includes an annual allotment that goes to a closure account. That account now has about $315,000 in it, Bannister said.

Although the board intends to continue to add to that account, changes in environmental regulations, he said, could result in an increased cost when the landfill needs to be closed.

The closing costs agreement ensures that the towns don’t continue to use the landfill and then walk away from the contract when it comes time to close it, leaving Blue Hill and Surry and the remaining sending towns to cover the costs.

“We hope that we will have saved more than enough and will be able to refund money to the towns,” Banister said in a recent interview. “That’s our goal.”

The budget committee in Brooksville has recommended against signing the contract, and selectmen there have approached the town of Penobscot about the possibility of working together on a transfer station. Penobscot already operates its own transfer station.

Penobscot voters at the annual town meeting will be asked if they will authorize the selectmen to begin discussions with Brooksville officials on that venture.

Brooklin voters will decide the issue at their town meeting in April.