PAXTON — More questions emerged once Select Board members looked at the maintenance agreement the town has with the Wachusett Regional School District.
Key among those questions is the condition and maintenance of the Paxton Center School’s septic system and what costs the town could be facing for any repairs.
Each of the five towns — Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling — has an agreement with the school district. But the costs absorbed by the district varies by town.
With the Paxton system, built about 1997 and having a usual life for many components of 20 to 25 years, the town could be looking at replacement costs in the next 10 years, Town Administrator Heather Munroe said at the Sept. 26 Select Board meeting.
Costs for other towns include sewers for Holden and Rutland and septic systems for Princeton and Sterling.
As of the meeting, Sterling had signed its maintenance agreement and Princeton had not yet done so, Munroe said.
In addition, the numbers for each town had Paxton offi cials somewhat confused.
If Paxton is looking at a replacement cost of $205,000, based on 2016 numbers, the town has a potentially large capital item that would come from town rather then district coffers.
Select Board member Kirk Huehls suggested “we move this down the road and have Heather do a little more research and see what we can find out, especially pertaining to the maintenance and how that has been conducted.”
“We want to make sure they are maintaining it,” Chairman Julia Pingitore said, reflecting the unknowns.
In other business, the board voted to create a process that would allow a subcommittee of the town’s ARPA Committee to provide assistance funds to residents.
The plan sets a limit of $1,500, outside of oil assistance. The town already had set aside $50,000 for assistance, about $7,000 of which has been used.
The vote would “expand the usage criteria for the $50,000,” Pingitore said, with “a discretionary basis to be handled by a three-member committee appointed by the ARPA Committee with a $1,500 limit per family from a $30,000 allocation of the $50,000.”
The discussion was prompted by a resident who was displaced and the desire to provide some assistance.
Helping “to get back on their feet, I’m fine with it,” Select Board member Carol Ruches said, noting the money should not be used for things such as taxes.
The funds had been allocated to assist qualified residents along with other resources providing oil and clothing help.
The board also voted the formal Intermunicipal Agreement with Rutland for Animal Control Services.
“I do think it’s a really good regional agreement as far as regional agreements go,” Huehls said of the pact, which would run to June 30, 2023, with the towns able to review it at that point.
