WILTON – Tuesday, the Wilton selectboard held a public hearing on water rate increases for the years 2023 and 2024.
Town Manager Perry Ellsworth shared the proposed rate increase. In 2023, the rate will be raised by seven cents per day, followed by an additional nine cents per day in 2024. The total increase over two years will be 16 cents.
Heinz Grossman, Wilton Waste and Wastewater Superintendent, informed the public that the reason for the increase is that the Water and Sewer Department is going to redo the main waterline from Varnum Pond to downtown Wilton. He explained that this project will update the pipeline to present standards and allow a higher volume of water to be brought into downtown Wilton.
“We want to upgrade it because it’s all concrete asbestos pipe that’s been put in the ground in the early 1950s and wasn’t expected to last this long,” Grossman said.
In an effort to acquire funding for the project from the federal government, the town must raise the water rates. The federal government will not consider providing funding to towns with rates as low as Wilton’s currently are. Ellsworth shared that the rate has stayed the same over the last twenty years.
Later in the meeting, the board set the rates for the 2023 and 2024 years as previously stated.
Robert Lively, Vice President of the Friends of Wilson Lake (FOWL), visited the board on Tuesday to provide an update on the organization. Lively told the board of when he and his family moved to the area in 1977.
“I had a job in Farmington but we chose to live here in Wilton because of two things: Kineowatha Park and the lake,” Lively told the board, highlighting the value of Wilson Lake.
Lively shared what FOWL has been doing to support their main goal of protecting the lake. They have programs in place to monitor and maintain water quality, such as the Courtesy Boat Inspectors to keep out invasive plants and the orange buoy to track water quality in partnership with the University of Maine Farmington. FOWL will soon be making a documentary with Mt Blue TV about the organization, Wilson Lake, and Wilton. The documentary will incorporate historical photos, interviews, and stories about the lake.
This meeting was recorded by Mt. Blue TV and may be viewed online at MtBlueTV.org
