Task Force nixes Buckfield water company takeover

BUCKFIELD — A special citizen’s task force formed to study options for paying a $1.2 million water company debt that’s been mounting for almost a decade has made its final recommendation — pay the bill.

The task force issued a statement advising against a town takeover of the quasi-municipal Buckfield Village Corporation (BVC), an option seriously considered at several recent town meetings.

“Given that the decisions to take on this debt were chosen, over a period of years, exclusively by the BVC, without any possibility of input from those outside the BVC, it is recommended that the satisfaction of the debt remain the sole responsibility of the BVC and its users,” read the one-page statement.

Founded by a charter from the state legislature in 1887, the Buckfield Village Corporation has 179 customers, mostly residential, centered in Buckfield Village and along the water lines that run into town from North Pond.

Recent rate hikes approved by the Public Utilities Commission to help pay the corporations debt, and meet operating costs, will drive the annual water bill for a typical single-family home to $615, according to Steve Levy, executive director of the Maine Rural Water Association. 

That, says Levy, is more than twice the average water bill in Maine and comparable to the highest prices in the nation.

The rate increase will affect all tax bills in Buckfield, not just those on town water, because, by law, 30 percent of the water company’s income must be derived from the town in the form of hydrant rentals.  This also factored into the task force statement, which noted that “the town should not take on additional portions of the debt outside of its current responsibility.”

The proposed rate increase comes hard on the heels of an emergency 75 percent rate increase, approved by the Public Utilities Commission in April to help keep the Village Corporation from defaulting on loan payments.

In 2004, the corporation received nearly $1 million in financing from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Forty-five percent of that funding came in the form of a Rural Development grant, the other 55 percent was financed through a low-interest loan.

The money was needed to replace 101-year-old asbestos water pipes in advance of a Maine Department of Transportation construction project on Route 117.

Although the Buckfield water company is small, and had few assets, the USDA loan reportedly was approved on the strength of its status as a village corporation, one of only four left in the state.

That status gives the Buckfield Village Cooperation the power to  levy taxes.  However, water commissioners — who are, technically, known as assessors — have never exercised this power and a series of board members who have come and gone over the last two years have all been reluctant to use it.

Instead of taxing customers, or raising rates, the water company took out two loans with Northeast Bank totaling $129,700, at least one of which was a short-term $65,000 note, due to be paid off in April, 2007.  That money was used to make USDA loan payments.

Some BVC customers have complained of mismanagement over the years, including allowing water to leak out of a reservoir tank for decades and allowing federal waivers to lapse, forcing the water company to install a $470,500 filtration system required under the Clean Waters Act.

However, others say that the village corporation has done the best it could given minimal involvement from customers, who are technically owners of the system, with voting power.

Current water commissioners include Peter Gagnon and Susan Chatterton, both voted in last fall when no one else was willing to step forward, and Dick Pope.

The Task Force letter asks commissioners to provide three things before the next town meeting, in June — an explanation, “in simple layman’s terms” of how the $1.2 million debt was acquired, a detailed breakdown of how the debt will affect water customers and taxpayers not on town water, and a report of the village corporations “water plan, going forward.”

Finally, the task force asks for additional help.

“It seems the last, best hope for relief is our congressional delegation,” read the task force letter.  “We therefore ask that the selectmen work with BVC members to generate interest, and to create a town-wide petition to gain assistance from the congressional delegation.”

However, Town Manager Glen Holmes says that he met recently with representatives from the offices of all four congressional members, as well as local legislators.  At that gathering, it was agreed that no state or federal help is available, says Holmes.

The Buckfield Water Task Force will meet at 7 p.m. tonight, January 4, at the town office.