From the Mashpee Enterprise · March 7, 2024 · By Alex Megerle
On March 6, 2024, Mashpee's Select Board and Sewer Commission met jointly and each voted unanimously to back Article 4 on the May Annual Town Meeting warrant. The article asks voters to appropriate about $96.1 million to build Phase Two of the town sewer project. Consultant GHD presented the updated estimate, up from an earlier $88 million placeholder. Phase Two would connect another 1,288 homes, add treatment plant equipment and build discharge beds. The article says it would cut nitrogen going into Popponesset Bay by a further 29 percent. With Phase One, that adds up to 42 percent. This story concerns the Popponesset Bay watershed, which neighbors the Waquoit Bay watershed.
Phase One is under construction. It covers a new treatment plant and a collection system for 439 homes. Officials expect outside money to cover up to about 28.3 percent of the Phase Two cost, including a state loan of about $50 million. The appropriation would depend on voters passing a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion (a temporary tax increase to pay the debt) on May 11. We include it as a close look at how a neighboring Mashpee watershed is paying for sewers, which Waquoit Bay communities are also weighing.
This is CPWB’s summary of a news article. The full article and its photos are published by the Mashpee Enterprise.
Drafted with AI assistance from the linked source.
