In Exeter, voters will decide this week whether to authorize nearly $50 million in bonds to pay for a new waste water treatment plant.
Town administrator Russell Dean says the project would mean about $650 a year in additional costs for the average sewer ratepayer, but says it's necessary if the town wants to be in compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.
"We're out of compliance," Dean says. "The options are very limited: you either meet the permit requirements or you don't, and if you don't, they have the ability to come in and fine the town. That's where we find ourselves."
Dean says Exeter has been under an EPA mandate to build a new facility since 2013, as part of an agreement aimed at limiting the amount of nitrogen output into the Squamscott River and Great Bay.
