NORWAY — Town Manager Jeffrey Wilson told the Select Board on Thursday that the Norway Water District is increasing its fees by more than 10% on March 1.

“They are not small increases, and they will certainly fall outside what we have budgeted for the water,” Wilson said.

Wilson said the town will need to hold a special Town Meeting to raise and appropriate the money needed to pay for the increase to governmental charges and public fire protection charges.

The new rates were announced in a letter from Norway Water District board of trustees treasurer Ryan Lippincott.

The district is filing for the 11.08% rate increase through the Maine Public Utilities Commission, according to Lippincott’s letter. The rate increase will raise more than $52,000 in total revenue. More than $16,000 of that will be the responsibility of town government.

A public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31 at the Norway Municipal Building beginning at 4 p.m.

Selectman Sarah Carter said she was told by someone at the district that this is the first increase in five years.

The rate increase prompted Wilson, who has been on the job for roughly a month, to review the town’s budget as it relates to the water district’s use of town facilities.

He asked and received permission from the board to review the district’s use of town office space at the municipal center at a price well below market value, Wilson said. He added that the district does not pay any extra money to use utilities paid for by the town.

Wilson stressed that the two items are not related, but felt the rate increase “cascaded” into the question of the district’s use of space in the town office.

The water district has its own building and Select Board Chairman Russell Newcomb said he thought there was enough room in that building to move its office there.

Solutions could include increasing the rent beyond the current cost of approximately $400 per month, doing nothing or asking them to leave and moving a town office, such as code enforcement, into that space.

In other business, Wilson said he has met with John O’Donnell about the possibility of contracting with the town to provide assessing services. O’Donnell has served as the town’s interim assessor since October 2022.

The town accepted a $850,000 USDA rural development grant to go toward renovations to the Municipal Complex. The board also accepted two $100 donations from Deborah Florenz of Rug Hookers and Daniel Sipes of CEBE to be placed in the administration budget.

The solar panel project on the police garage is out to bid. The project, paid for with community grant money, will be accepting bids through March 31.

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