SOUTH DEERFIELD — With several projects, some with big price tags, looming on the horizon, the Select Board/Sewer Commissioners increased the town’s sewer-use rates to $23 per 1,000 gallons, as the board awaits further information on the projects.

The rate increase, up by 9.8% from fiscal year 2024, was the smallest among the three options, as the Select Board considered potential rates of $23.85 and $26.28.

The middle rate would have included going out to bid to replace pipes on Eastern Avenue and Cross Street, while the highest increase would have included the pipe replacement, as well as the design of an effluent pipe repair at the South Deerfield plant.

Additionally, the biannual service fee and minimum usage charges were also raised to $150 and $100 from $100 and $80, respectively.

Sewer usage has dropped in the town, with 74 million gallons of water processed in 2024, compared to the anticipated usage of approximately 85.5 million gallons. The new rates will take effect when residents get their bill in late November.

Select Board member Trevor McDaniel said all these considerations are taken into accout to “cover the amount of drop in usage and the amount of expenses we have.”

“I’m open to hold on the two capital projects until later in the year and we discuss it in budget season and tackle them next season and go with the basic rate right now,” said McDaniel, noting there isn’t a “solid” bid number on Eastern Avenue and Cross Street yet. “It’s not going to be the end of the world; I was just hoping to get one part of it out of the way.”

Rates also pay off the loans Deerfield has taken out to pay for the South Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Plant. The town has two U.S. Department of Agriculture loans of about $8.57 million and $2.99 million, as well as a town bond of $6 million, which helped pay for the $21.69 million project.

Fellow Select Board members Tim Hilchey and Blake Gilmore agreed with McDaniel, as Hilchey noted that a cost estimate for Eastern Avenue and Cross Street will be available next year and the town knows now “what the loans are going to cost.”

“We’re not raising rates because we want to earn money, we’re raising rates to pay the service debt on this project,” Hilchey said. “Rates should moderate unless we have big issues that come up.”

While the Eastern Avenue and effluent pipe projects are known, the town also has been looking at the Old Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is likely to be a $16 million to $17 million project.

Both the town and the nonprofits of Old Deerfield — led by Deerfield Academy — came together to see how they could work together to address the issue, but the two parties had different preferred proposals.

As the town seeks a solution, residents, such as Charlene Galenski, said they were concerned with the increasing sewer rates in town and requested Select Board members continue to engage with Deerfield Academy and other nonprofits to help take on such an expensive project and take the load off residents.

“We had an 11.1% increase last year, so in two years, you’re asking sewer users to come up with 20% more money to pay to flush that damn toilet,” Galenski said. “It keeps adding up and we are not a large town of taxpayers. There is fear, and I really use that word cautiously, because you can’t just keep hitting taxpayers.”

McDaniel said the 9% increase for this fiscal year “looks dramatic,” but managing a town costs a lot money and sewer is an essential service that needs to be funded. He pointed to septic systems as an example of the costs, as “you’re talking $30,000 to $40,000” to set up your own system at a house.

“It’s expensive to manage expensive infrastructure and we have to do it. We try to find the most economical way to do this,” McDaniel said, noting the town has tried to “stretch out” its USDA loans. “We’re trying to find a balance.”

One possible future solution to help address resident concerns offered up by Gilmore was expanding the Sewer Commission. Currently on top of Select Board duties, members also operate as the Board of Health, as well as the Sewer Commission, and Gilmore said adding two citizen representatives might bring some more expertise, especially as all three current Select Board members are not sewer users.

Gill made a similar move in the last year, as its Select Board also serves as sewer commissioners and residents in its Riverside neighborhood requested some sort of representation on the board because none of Gill’s Select Board members live in that part of town.

“This is why I suggested we do put a Sewer Committee back together,” Gilmore said. “The Select Board just can’t go out there and handle every part of it.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.