Community Corner

Question: Who Will Pay for Wastewater Bypass?

A reader asked who will pay for the emergency measures taken at the town pumping station to prevent sewer systems from backing up into Swampscott homes.

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"Where is the additional money coming from?"

Reader William DiMento asked this question in response to comments from the town administrator in a Patch article on Thursday

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The article was about expenses tied to the massive system failure and flooding at the town pumping station in September.

We asked Town Administrator Andrew Maylor the question. 

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Who will pay for the bypass and truck transportation charges?

He said he had no official comment.

At Wednesday's meeting of the Board of Selectmen meeting he said the town was covered for $125,000 in expenses to keep the system operating.

The expenses will far exceed the $125,000 but the town is taking steps to make sure the additional costs will not impact ratepayers, Maylor said.

He added that he was not at liberty to discuss what those steps are but that one could read between the lines.

Well, let's look at the lines.

If the town's ratepayers do not pay the expenses then someone else, presumably someone outside the town, will be footing the bill.

And if the town is taking steps to have someone else pay for it, our guess is that the someone is the party they think is responsible for the failure.

When it comes to liability issues, they typically involve negotiations or legal action.

That's our reading between the lines, William.

If we find the answer we will report it.


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