WINDHAM – All Windham taxpayers would have to foot the bill if a sewer system is approved for North Windham and Windham Center, councilors said at special meeting Wednesday night.

That was the upshot of a discussion that came as the Town Council reviewed possible revenue sources for the project, which will go before voters in November.

For almost two years, the council has been trying to narrow the cost of the project. What started out as an estimated $68 million dollar project providing wastewater removal to a large part of Windham has been reduced to a “spine” proposal that would service an estimated 467 parcels in the Route 302 corridor from North Windham to Westbrook, as well as the schools and town hall in Windham Center. The reduced project would cost an estimated $37.8 million.

According to the town’s engineering consultant, Barry Sheff of Woodard & Curran, the spine project would cost about $2.1 million a year for maintenance, operation and debt service, at a projected loan rate of 2.5 percent for 30 years. Sheff worked through different revenue scenarios with councilors Wednesday night for about three hours. Toward the end of the discussion, councilors concluded that users would not be able to pay for a sewer by themselves and that the bulk of the cost would come from taxpayers.

“Basically, it comes down to the fact that … user fees aren’t going to pay for the sewer,” Chairman Scott Hayman said.

The cost to taxpayers would be lower if all users hooked in quickly, Sheff said. That is unlikely, he added, since many residents have functional septic systems. Even at 100 percent compliance, meaning all 467 parcels along the proposed spine hooked into the sewer in the first year, it would require an additional 78 cents to $1.11 per $1,000 valuation to the town’s property tax rate, which this year is $13.90.

The additional property tax would be paid by users, who would also pay a proposed $600 user fee (which South Windham sewer users already pay annually), as well as those not connected to the system. On a $200,000 home, which Town Manager Tony Plante said is the average value in Windham, a dollar increase in the property tax rate would equate to an additional $200 a year.

Plante reminded councilors that 16 years of test well data have identified the large private septic systems of large-scale commercial enterprises in North Windham as the major source of nitrate pollution in the aquifer but said there is “no imminent threat” to anyone using well water in North Windham. He agreed with the councilors’ conclusion that users alone can’t carry the cost burden.

“In trying to not rely on property taxes to help pay for a project like this, the short answer is you can’t. It’s really a question of how much,” Plante said.

Some councilors seemed to favor the idea of shifting the cost burden to the taxpayer, arguing that the sewer would benefit the whole town by improving the commercial area where many residents do their shopping.

“What would that same household pay for education whether they had children or not in the school system? $2,000 a year?” Councilor Kevin Call said. “So $200 would go to a sewer system, $2,000 is going to the schools regardless if they have kids in the school or not.”

Hayman then said he’s heard people say that commercial users should have to pay for the system.

“But if you frequent North Windham and you use those facilities and you use those services that those businesses provide, you are as much of a problem as they are themselves,” Haymand said. “If you shop … at any grocery store in North Windham, you go to a restaurant in North Windham, you use the laundromat in North Windham, if you use any of the businesses that are contributing to the problem, you are a contributor to the problem.”

Call ended Hayman’s thought, saying, “And you have a responsibility to help fix it.”

Call continued with the education analogy, adding, “We educate the children here for future generations, for future needs. We need to protect the environment. It’s an investment that nobody’s made to this point and it’s left for us to do it.”

Project refining is far from over as the council ultimately prepares its November ballot question. The council still needs to determine whether the town would charge additional taxes, such as one-time betterment fees, since the sewer would likely increase a property values. The town could also charge an annual ready-to-serve fee for those who could connect but choose not to.