AUGUSTA -- If legislators approve the new charter, voters from Augusta and Hallowell will decide in November whether to merge sewer operations along with Augusta Water District services in a new Greater Augusta Utility District.

The Legislature's Utilities and Energy Committee is to hold a work session and perhaps vote on the bill Tuesday at 1 p.m.

No opposition to the proposal surfaced at a public hearing May 8, Augusta Water and Sanitary District General Manager Brian Tarbuck said.

If Hallowell voters refuse to join, Tarbuck said, "There is language in the charter to allow for an automatic revision to the charter if one community voted for the charter and another voted against it" allowing approval of the merger of only the Augusta districts.

For the past two years, the Augusta Sanitary District and the Augusta Water District have operated together under an agreement that combined most functions under a single governing board to save money.

District officials also explored the possibility of merging with other utilities in surrounding communities.

In the end, though, only Hallowell Water District officials agreed to combine their sewer services for more than 700 Hallowell households in the new regional entity, district Chairwoman Susan Farnsworth said.

Water services will remain independent in Hallowell, she said.

The merger of Hallowell sewer services with the Augusta system makes sense because the Augusta Sanitary District already provides waste-water treatment to Hallowell.

"We have a reasonably new system, as such things go. A good portion of it was installed in 1986 or thereabouts, but that was done with the help of federal funds from the Clean Water Act," Farnsworth said. "But as that system ages, we are going to have to come up with the resources to repair and replace it, with just 741 people supporting it and no federal funds. Our goal is long-term stability of rates."

Under the terms of the proposed new charter, the combined district would be run by a seven-member board: six members appointed by the Augusta mayor and one by Hallowell's.

That formula "was based on the amount of sewer flows from each system," Augusta City Manager William Bridgeo said.

Hallowell officials balked at proposals that would have allowed Augusta employees such as Bridgeo to serve on the utility governing board and board approval for sewer line extensions to benefit private development.

Augusta officials agreed to eliminate eligibility for city employees on the board and gave veto power to the Hallowell board member over investments by the new district in private developments.

Gary Remal -- 621-5642

gremal@centralmaine.com