WILTON — Rates for water customers are expected to remain the same despite an anticipated $60,000 increase in the Water Department’s budget this year.

Selectmen recently approved a budget of $531,085 for the department, which is nearly $60,000 more than last year, as presented by department Manager Clayton Putnam.

The increase is requested for distribution line maintenance, a computer upgrade and installation of some new water meters. A reserve account, now at about $467,000, will be used instead of raising rates for customers.

The budget includes $20,000 for a computer upgrade. The last upgrade was done in 2002 for $13,000, he said.

The department intends to replace a plastic line near Masterman Avenue, a project postponed this year due to the work on Route 156 and Canal Street, he told the board.

Plans also include laying a new line of about 460 feet on Shea Street and installing about 30 new meters read by a wireless broadcasts. These are not “smart meters,” he told the board. A meter reader would continue to record water usage at each house but it will be done from a truck on the road. Each meter will be read separately.

With current manufacturers going to digital systems and stopping the manufacture of what the department now uses, Putnam foresees parts becoming sparse.

“Something needs to be done,” he said.

To install all new meters would require a $140,000 plus the cost of a software system, he said.

Instead the department is looking to start with 30 new meters and do a certain number each year, he said. A decision on where the 30 new meters will be installed is being considered.

The budget includes some pluses for the department. Just over $8,000 in a service credit this year is expected from the reapportionment of a loan taken out in 1993 from the Maine Municipal Bond Bank. This program will extend to 2020 and over the nine years, the department expects a savings of nearly $40,000.

The department also expects $5,000 in savings from changing to a Maine power supplier.

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