JAY — Selectpersons voted Monday to go with a pump station and force main system to send sewage from North Jay to an existing collection system to a Livermore Falls plant for treatment.

The board opted not to upgrade the North Jay Wastewater Plant.

The Jay plant is nearing 20 years old and needs to be upgraded.

The cost to build a pump station and force main system to run beside a multipurpose trail to an existing collection system at Jay Plaza is about $3.9 million. The estimated annual bond payment over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest is approximately $226,500 a year, Mark Holt, superintendent of the Sewer Department, told the board Monday.

There would be an overall yearly savings of  $107,000 to abandon the North Jay plant to offset the annual payment. The amount factors in an estimated increase of $11,000 a year to have the sewage treated at the Livermore Falls Wastewater Plant, he said. 

Jay and Livermore Falls share the operating and maintenance cost of the Livermore Falls plant based on sewage treated at the plant.  

An upgrade to the North Jay plant would cost an estimated $1.6 million over the next 20 years.  An estimated annual bond payment over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest would be $92,900, he said.

The plant would need additional upgrades on a 20- to 25-year basis, according to a feasibility report by Wright-Pierce engineers of Topsham.  

The upgrade to the pump station system in 20 years would be about $100,000 compared to $2 million for an upgrade to the North Jay plant. 

It is estimated that costs over the next 20 years, plus an additional upgrade in 20 years to the Jay plant would be $8.3 million, according to the report.  By going with the new system, the cost over 20 years is $7.3 million, including a future upgrade.

A local lawmaker is willing to submit a bill to the Legislature seeking approval to run the system beside the trail, Holt said.

The Jay Sewer Department will be eliminating about $270,000 in debt service in October, Holt said.

The Livermore Falls plant is also nearing 20 years old and needs an upgrade, which had been estimated to cost between $7 million and $10 million. Holt said he and Livermore Falls Superintendent Greg Given met with engineers and they believe they have gotten the upgrade down to between $6 million and $9 million.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net