ANGELO LYNN

This Town Meeting, Middlebury residents will decide their largest bond vote ever: a $49.5 million makeover of its 25-year-old sewer plant. Built in 2000, the 20-year projected lifespan of the plant is five years past that due date and will be forced to hobble along for another five years (if the bond is approved this March) before construction on the renovation can be finished in 2029.

“It’s served the ratepayers well, but we’re getting to the point we can’t keep it going much longer,” said wastewater plant Assistant Superintendent Dean Rheaume. “The ratepayers have gotten more than the designed life out of it. We’re at the point where we could see catastrophic failures.”

Such potential failure, of course, isn’t an acceptable outcome and the town is wisely asking residents to ante up this hair-raising amount of money for prudent reasons. Namely, if the town doesn’t have a viable sewer system, it’s kaput.

Think about it. Middlebury College is one of the principal users and obviously needs a working system. The town’s Exchange Street industries — Agri-Mark, Aqua-Vitea, Woodchuck Cider — are all highly dependent on a cost-efficient, reliable wastewater treatment facility. The town’s sewer plant is also the primary facility for the county’s septic waste from neighboring communities. And without a viable plant, the schools, hospital, the town’s two large assisted-living complexes, all restaurants, inns, retail and commercial offices are shut down.

The wastewater treatment plant is, in many respects, the beating heart of the area’s economic base. It’s inconceivable not to have a cost-effective plant.

The good news for Middlebury residents is these same customers are the ones who will pay for the largest percentage of the plant’s renovation and its operating cost. None of the $49.5 million will be paid by local property taxes. Most of it will be paid through sewer rates charged to its customers, with high-use industrial and commercial customers paying the largest percentage.

The $49.5 million price tag also includes a 30% contingency built-in to cover for higher-than-expected costs (perhaps due to Trump-inspired tariffs, for example), as well as anticipating inflation while the makeover happens. And because the project will be built in three phases, the amount of the bond won’t be finalized until that final phase — and the project will hopefully come in lower than the $49.5 million cap.

In short, the town has worked hard to get the most out of the current plant, has devised a renovation that will improve the cost-effectiveness of the plant as well as reduce its bio-solids (sludge), all while expanding the plant’s capacity.

Yes, it’s costly, but it’s a deal the town can’t refuse.

Angelo Lynn