Palmer Select Board Completes Wastewater Loan Reauthorization, Approves Ten Appointments

PALMER -- June 9, 2025, Palmer Select Board reauthorizes $2.28 million wastewater borrowing and approves a dozen appointments. The board completed a second reading of loan authorization 2025-03, rescinding a February authorization after bond counsel identified a technical deficiency and re-authorizing the identical $2,280,000 sum for a centrifuge sludge dewatering system under MGL Chapter 44, Section 171. Town Manager Brad Brothers told residents the fiscal year 2026 sewer rate is set at $760 per equivalent dwelling unit, with a Tighe and Bond estimate floating a future figure exceeding $1,500 per household if the plant's full 10-year, roughly $50 million capital program proceeds, driven in part by an EPA NPDES permit renewal. The board approved three financial transfers totaling approximately $130,000, including $110,350 from free cash for a snow and ice deficit. Brothers disclosed stabilization balances as of April 16, 2025: general stabilization at $2.9 million, capital improvement stabilization at $3.1 million, and sewer surplus at $1.25 million. Ten board and committee appointments were confirmed, and the initial slate of the charter-required Ordinance Review Committee was seated, with three of six required public seats still vacant.