Oct. 20, Boothbay Harbor Sewer District (BHSD)  trustees reviewed the first draft budget for the 2027-28 fiscal year. Higgins said he expected an overall budget increase of about 3%, about $2,498,000 compared to last year's $2,427,581. Numbers are subject to change. More substantial work will begin at the Nov. 3 budget workshop.  

In other business, the district has finished the main portion of its annual sewer line cleaning, a.k.a jetting, clearing residue that can reduce pipe capacity. Superintendent Sean Boyd said results came back fairly clean, with the district only needing one five-gallon bucket to deal with debris. In comparison, Operator-in-charge Chris Higgins said that before the pipes were relined in 2014 and 2020, there would be 4-5 yards of debris a day.  

Going forward, BHSD may break the jetting into rotating quadrants, instead of doing it all at once. This year's cleaning should be complete by month's end.  

The board discussed phase 1 construction for the climate resiliency project, raising concerns over the proposed connection between the new effluent tank and existing contact tank.  

"Their structural guys really did not give me a very good reason (why the tanks had to be connected), other than adding a zero to the cost of the project," said Higgins. The matter is being investigated.