The Woodstock Town Selectboard is weighing three different options for the allocation of payments toward the main wastewater plant bond issue that will be put before voters on Town Meeting Day, Tuesday, March 3.
At issue is how to allocate payments toward the estimated $33-35 million bond issue equitably among users and non-users of the sewer system served by the wastewater facility, which must undergo substantial upgrading to bring it into compliance with current state regulations. At a special Woodstock selectboard meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 13, municipal manager Eric Duffy presented a spreadsheet detailing three different potential scenarios for how the estimated $1.6 million annual bond payment could be paid by Woodstock homeowners and businesses.
The three scenarios that Duffy posited for the allocation of bond payments all entailed estimated costs to property and business owners on an average basis, although different means are used for determining annual sewer fees based upon household size and/or metered volume usage. In the first proposal, sewer users would bear 100% of the full annual cost of the bond payoff, averaging approximately $1,700 per year per sewer parcel. A second option would entail all parcels in the town — both those on the sewer system and non-users with septic systems — sharing equally in paying off the wastewater bond at a projected average annual cost of $841 per parcel. The third option proposes a 20/80 split, with all parcel holders paying 20% and sewer users alone contributing 80% of the bond repayments. That plan would result in an average annual payment of $168 for all parcels and $1,400 for sewer users.
Duffy, selectboard members, and residents also discussed the possibility of directing a portion of the options tax for infrastructure enhancements that Town Meeting voters okayed in 2024 to help ease the potential annual bond payment hit on sewer system users and non-users alike.
Duffy noted that the board does not have to sign off on the warning for the Mar. 3 Town Meeting, which will include the bond issue vote, until Jan. 30, allowing more time for an ongoing dialogue with sewer system users and non-users alike.
For more on this, please see our Jan. 22 edition of the Vermont Standard.
