KINGFIELD — Selectmen scheduled a special town meeting and public hearing to approve borrowing matching funds for a grant application and to review increases in wastewater rates.

At the Monday evening meeting, selectmen reviewed plans for a 6 p.m.  Feb. 11 meeting at Kingfield Elementary School. Voters will decide whether to authorize selectmen to borrow up to $15,000 if the town receives a Maine Community Development Block Grant for a public wastewater system overhaul.

Rodney Lynch, the town’s economic development consultant, has moved through several of the steps in the application process. If the town is awarded funding, selectmen must provide proof of voters’ approval to borrow a percentage in matching funds.

Money can be borrowed as bonds or notes, or it can come from the town’s existing reserve accounts or undesignated fund balances. The grant award can be up to $500,000, and selectmen will not know for several months whether they will receive the money.

Lynch has advised selectmen not to be too hopeful during this first application cycle, because the statewide process is very competitive. The town will have most of the application work completed if they decide to compete for grant money the next year, he said.

The money may be used only to upgrade, improve and repair  the wastewater collection and treatment system that was installed in the mid-1980s. Loan repayments will come from wastewater user fee revenues.

Selectmen reviewed the possibility of applying for a low interest municipal bond, but that may not cover the entire $115,000 without extra expense and legal paperwork. “If you borrow over $100,000, you need to go through bond counsel,” Targett told selectmen.

If they issue a $115,000 bond with an estimated interest rate of 4.08 percent for a term of 10 years, the town will need to repay the note and $25,243.58 in interest, Targett said.

The public hearing to explain the new wastewater rate system will begin immediately after the special town meeting.

Targett said the registrar of voters will be available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each weekday at the town office. She also will be available from 8:45 a.m.  Monday until the end of the town meeting to accept registrations of anyone eligible to vote.

“A person who is not a registered voter may not vote in any election,” Targett noted.

After the special town meeting, selectmen will continue with a public hearing to review the proposed increase in wastewater usage rates. Selectmen have reviewed and accepted Maine Rural Water Executive Director Steve Levy’s modified rate structure generates revenues needed to make the wastewater system be self-supporting.

The proposed base rate will rise 52 percent, from $181 to $275 per year. The billing will be quarterly, with a cap of 15,000 gallons per quarter included. Customers who use more than 15.000 gallons and up to 40,000 gallons would be charged $ .032165 per gallon. Customers who use over 40,000 gallons will pay $.00160825 per gallon.

Selectmen may decide to review the rate structure annually to verify whether the base rate meets the revenue projections for the costs to support the system. Selectmen have agreed to individual cases for special situations, like water leaks, filling pools and watering gardens.