LIVERMORE FALLS — The cost to upgrade part of the wastewater treatment plant has increased about $2 million since voters authorized funding in March for a then-proposed$5.75 million upgrade.

The cost of the first phase is now proposed at $7.8 million, Town Manager Stephen Gould told selectmen Tuesday.

Livermore Falls owns the plant but the town and Jay will split the cost 50-50.

Part of Jay’s sewage is treated at the Livermore Falls plant. Jay is in the process of installing a new pump station and 19,000 feet of sewer line to send the sewage from North Jay to the Livermore Falls plant to be treated. The town plans to abandon its North Jay sewer treatment plant.

Gould told selectmen he has applied for further funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Maine Municipal Bond Bank but had not received an answer yet. He will also pursue grant money from the state’s Community Block Development program.

Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments has agreed to do an income study of sewer users, he said, which would save the town about $30,000. Jay had a median income study done by Maine Rural Water Association, which cost about $30,000, and the town gained $2 million in grant funds to offset the cost of its sewer conversion.

The plant was built in the 1970s and received a nearly $6 million upgrade in 1998, although not everything was upgraded then.

In other business, Gould said he plans to attend a Jay workshop with ReVision Energy at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Jay Town Office to discuss information on solar power purchase options.

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