LISBON – The Town Council voted Tuesday night to set a new flat rate of $2 per 100 cubic feet of effluent for Maine Electronics Inc., up 50 cents over the previous special rate.

Although the residential rate had been increased last year, this is the first rate increase for Maine Electronics since 1994. At that time, the town entered an agreement to allow the firm to discharge effluent, mostly water, from which the contaminant 1.1 trichloroethelene had been removed at a special rate of $1.50 per 100 gallons.

After the plant closed several years ago, it was determined that the surrounding ground water had been contaminated with the trichloroethelene that had been used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards.

A cleanup, supervised by the Department of Environmental Protection, was ordered. An estimated 2 million gallons of effluent is pumped through the town’s sewer system each month, representing 4 percent of the total effluent pumped into the town’s sewer system.

The new rate is expected to generate an additional $30,000 in revenue for the town. It is anticipated it will be another five to six years before the cleanup is completed

In other business, councilors discussed a proposal to adopt a tax increment finance policy, but no decision was made.

The town has six TIFs in which between 40 and 60 percent of the tax goes back to the company, but has no “clear policy” Town Manager Curtis Lunt said.

In other matters, the council viewed a slide show on the progress of local economic and community development by director Dan Feeney; renewed a special entertainment and liquor license for VFW post 9459, and signed the annual warrant for unlicensed dogs.

The following appointments were made Wednesday night: Planning Board alternate, Mark Lunt; Appeals Board, Janet Tuttle; Trail Commission, Zachary Henderson; Technology Committee, Robert Hayslip and David Harris; Recreation Commission, Patrick Austin.

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