WOODSTOCK — A bond of as much as $35 million for major upgrades to the town’s main wastewater treatment facility is likely headed to voters in March.
The Woodstock Selectboard has yet to finalize the bond amount or how the repayment burden will fall between residents with septic systems and those on town sewer, but “every indication is that we’re going to go forward with the vote for Town Meeting,” Municipal Manager Eric Duffy said Tuesday.
Time is ticking to make the necessary repairs, Duffy said.
Woodstock is in the process of securing a new permit to operate the wastewater treatment plant on the banks of the Ottauquechee River off Route 4, which has been running since 1967. It won’t be able to meet new requirements without an upgrade, Duffy said.
The town has been operating on an extension of a 2015 permit that otherwise would have expired in 2020. The state of Vermont has been working with Woodstock and opting not to pursue penalties while the town has been in the process of improving the plant, according to an informational website for the project.
If the town doesn’t update the plant, the state won’t authorize a new permit and Woodstock could be subject to fines for violating state and federal law.
“The longer we wait the more trouble we get the town in long-term,” Duffy said.
The wastewater treatment plant has seen piecemeal upgrades over the years, while also serving a growing population that is stretching its capacity, according to an informational website for the project Duffy prepared.
The wastewater treatment facility serves about 750 homes and businesses, and is permitted to treat 450,000 gallons per day of wastewater.
The future of the facility has been in question since at least 2024, when environmental engineer Hoyle, Tanner and Associates presented a report on the plant’s deficiencies to the Selectboard.
The aging facility has major problems, including “significant structural damage” in the aeration tank that’s susceptible to total failure, according to a summary of the project. The tank adds oxygen to wastewater to help eliminate nitrogen and phosphorus without the use of chemicals.
The disinfection tank also has limited capacity and at “peak flows” the wastewater is not completely disinfected. The plant also is susceptible to flooding and complete system failure because of a lack of capacity to pump out the site during storm events and the location of some structures.
If voters approve a bond, residents could be on the hook to repay between $1.4 and $1.7 million a year for 30 years depending on project costs and the terms of the loan, Duffy said Tuesday.
Woodstock is working to secure a $1 million congressionally directed spending allocation for the project and the Selectboard is mulling other funding sources, such as earmarking local option tax revenue for the project.
Also at issue is how the burden of the bond will be spread.
Woodstock has 903 sewer users out of 1,901 taxable parcels in town with the main wastewater treatment plant mostly serving Woodstock Village. The Selectboard is considering splitting the repayment burden so that sewer users pay a larger portion of the bill, but residents who have private septic systems may still be on the hook for some of the cost.
The board is “trying to look at the whole picture to see what the most equitable way” is to allocate the repayment, Duffy said.
If only sewer users pay the bond at an estimated repayment amount of $1.6 million a year, they would be on the hook for about $1,700, according to materials Duffy prepared for a special Jan. 13 Selectboard meeting.
That’s nearly twice as much as the roughly $900 a typical family of four on the sewer system in Woodstock Village currently pays in fees.
The Selectboard was in agreement that sewer users should cover the majority of project costs at the Jan. 13 meeting. The group was not as decisive on what, if anything, non-sewer users should pay.
Non-sewer users “should contribute something given that we need the infrastructure of the town to be healthy,” Selectboard Member Cliff Johnson advocated. But he said it should be a small portion, such as 10% of the total cost.
This would be $84 a year for non-sewer users and about $1,600 for sewer users on a repayment amount of $1.6 million a year.
The board discussed a 90/10 split again at a Selectboard meeting Tuesday, but opted to get more public input before making a final decision.
The $33 to $35 million estimated cost for this year’s wastewater bond also includes some buffer to ensure that the project doesn’t exceed the approved cost, Duffy said.
The wastewater plant upgrade is the latest in a line of water-related expenses for Woodstock. After finishing upgrades on the South Woodstock Wastewater Treatment Facility in 2024, voters also approved spending $920,000 to purchase the town’s water system that had been privately owned by the Woodstock Aqueduct Co and to secure $8.3 million in bonds to purchase water company property and fund capital improvement projects.
Woodstock voters, along with voters in other towns belonging to the Mountain View School District, will also be asked to approve a nearly $112 million bond in March to build a new Woodstock Union Middle School and High School.
The two projects “kind of go hand-in-hand in that both of these buildings are falling apart on the face and for a new school to be built and be functional we need new wastewater plants,” Duffy said.
The Selectboard has pushed the sewer bond vote off for at least two years, he added, and at this point there is no more time to wait.
The board is expected to finalize its plans and sign the Town Meeting warning early next week.
There will be public meetings to learn about the wastewater treatment project on Wednesday mornings around Woodstock. The next meeting is on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 9 a.m. at Dreamscape Coffee at 67 Central Street, Unit 3.
Woodstock Town Meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 28 at Woodstock Town Hall. Polls will be open for Australian ballot voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3.
CORRECTIONS: Woodstock is in the process of securing a congressionally directed spending allocation for the wastewater treatment project. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the status of the congressionally directed spending allocation.
The town purchased the municipal water system from the Woodstock Aqueduct Co. in 2024 for $920,000 and secured $8.3 million in bonds to purchase water company property and fund capital improvement projects. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated how much Woodstock spent on the water system purchase.