BUCKFIELD – A task force says there’s no way to ignore, forgive or reduce a local water company’s debt that has pushed customers’ bills to among the highest in the state.

This week, members offered a four-page recap of a “predicament (that) has been decades in the making.”

Town Manager Glen Holmes said the town will soon circulate a petition asking Maine’s congressional delegation to step in – again. He believes the local water company, Buckfield Village Corp., also plans to ask residents at the June town meeting to take it over or take on its debt.

“That’ll be an uphill battle,” Holmes said Wednesday.

Only a small number of homes in town are connected to the public water supply. The volunteer-run BVC has had a history, dating back to the 1970s, of charging too little, but problems became more pronounced when it took on $1.2 million in debt in recent years.

For a 15-year stretch up to 1997, the average yearly bill was about $100.

That year, it went up to $340.

In January, the average bill went up again to $585, through an emergency agreement with the state.

Another rate change is due next January.

Steve Levy, executive director Maine Rural Water Association, said the congressional delegation has been asked for help before.

“They’ve been great, they’re supportive, and they’re enthusiastic; the problem is there aren’t programs to” address this sort of issue, he said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture holds the three large loans to the water board. It’s only forgiven a loan once, to a North Dakota town blown away by a tornado.

The BVC has applied to the state revolving loan fund to get lower interest rates, but its application is a low priority, Levy said. It’s in the midst of consolidating two other loans.

Buckfield has the third-highest water rates in Maine, according to Levy, behind Deer Isle and Northport Village Corp.

Last year, the town decided to hold a referendum to settle the water board’s fate in November, then decided on a task force instead.

The Buckfield Water Task Force ultimately recommended against the town paying any more than its own water bill to the BVC.