LIVERMORE FALLS – Sewer Department trustees voted Monday to increase the sewer use rate effective Jan. 1. They also voted to reverse a policy that had the Sewer Department paying for sewer line repairs from owners’ property lines to the main.

That practice has been costing the town about $20,000 each year, select board Chairman Louise Chabot said Tuesday.

Now, property owners will be responsible for the line from their home to the connection at the main, she said.

Sewer Department Superintendent Kent Mitchell and sewer clerk Sue Sapiel also gave selectmen an overview of the department’s finances as verified by the auditor, Chabot said.

In recent years, she said, the department has had a yearly operating loss. For the year ending June 30, the loss was $67,689 after depreciation and other adjustments, Chabot said.

Part of the losses are due to the policy that selectmen agreed to reverse Monday, she said. Only Augusta and Wilton have a similar policy, she added.

The board also voted to increase the minimum sewer rate from $45 per quarter to $50 and increased the consumption rate from 2 cents to 3 cents per cubic foot or 7 gallons of use.

When rates were set about 10 years ago, the minimum was to be used for sewer debt and the additional use cost was to pay for sewer treatment plant operations and maintenance.

The total increase averages about 10 percent, she said.

The rate increase and turning over more responsibility for sewer lines to owners will bring in about $55,200 more a year to the department, Chabot said.

Trustees agreed to look at the revenue again in two years, Sapiel said.

Selectmen were also advised, Chabot said, that the Franklin Road temporary sewer line under the railroad tracks has still not been permanently fixed. Bids have been received from two companies for the work, she said.