WILTON — Selectmen approved a fee increase for motor vehicle registrations during their Tuesday meeting. The hike takes effect on July 1.

The increase is for agent fees or the amount kept by the town for transacting the state registration, Town Manager Rhonda Irish told the board. Wilton’s fees have remained the same for many years and lagged behind the amount charged by other area towns such as Farmington and Jay, she said.

The new fee increases the town’s share from $2 to $3 for renewals of motor vehicle registrations and raises new registration agent fees from $2 to $4. The town handles approximately 6,000 registrations per year, she said.

In other business, the board reviewed upcoming road projects.

A water line project starts June 29 over approximately a half mile on Route 156 from Dutch Treat to just beyond the Davis Road, said Clayton Putnam from the Wilton Water Department that plans to lay 1,000 feet of new water line. The sewer department will also make adjustments to manhole frames and covers within about a quarter mile of that distance.

“There’s a conglomeration of … pipes probably put in in the late 1970s. We’ll take out the 1- and 2-inch lines and add new 4-inch line,” he said.

Before a state Department of Transportation road project on Route 156 from the intersection of Routes 2 and 4 to the intersection of Routes 156 and 142 in Farmington Falls is started, DOT wants the local water department to complete its work before Sept. 1, Putnam said. The state project goes out to bid in July and is expected to be awarded in August.

A road work project on Orchard Drive will close that road on June 30 and July 1. Only local traffic will be allowed through while road repairs are completed.

Another water line project on the Temple Road has been pushed backed allowing the Route 156 work to be done, Putnam said. Water lines on the lower end from Main Street to the Lee Corey farm are deteriorating. A  project on the road is waiting for the department to complete their work, he said.

Putnam expects the Temple Road project to begin around the first of September. Along with replacing lines, a valve upgrade will be done near the post office as part of a long range plan for looping the system to Cross Street and pipes on Temple and Pleasant street will be straightened out, he said.

The board also re-elected Terry Brann as chairman.

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