WATERFORD – Selectmen voted Wednesday to look into hiring a consultant to revisit the idea of seceding from SAD 17.

“This is meant as a very, very preliminary investigation,” said Selectmen Whizzer Wheeler, who initiated the discussion. Wheeler will check out the costs for hiring the consultant, and bring the information back to the board, he said.

If the board agrees, the question of whether to hire a consultant would be put on the warrant for the March town meeting, he said.

Wheeler said it’s much too early to say what plan makes sense if Waterford withdrew its membership in the eight-town school district. When talk of secession has come up in past years, it has involved Otisfield and Harrison, two other towns where land values are high and student populations are relatively low.

SAD 17 uses a cost-sharing formula of 75 percent valuation, 25 percent student population, to determine how much each town must pay to fund local appropriations. The formula was based totally on property values, but the three towns convinced voters in the district that factoring in enrollments would be more equitable.

Wheeler said the formula doesn’t go far enough in addressing the disparity.

“Even though we have many fewer students, we pay a much higher assessment,” he said. If the district based its assessment 100 percent on student population, Wheeler figures Waterford would save about $300,000.

He said the time is right to revisit the issue, now that the district is poised to be funded by the state at 55 percent of the cost of education as a result of a successful citizen initiative passed by voters.

“We are open to any suggestion if there is a viable solution,” he said. “We’ve got to begin to think outside the box.”