Edgartown reduces rate for septage trucked to wastewater plant

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Edgartown wastewater commissioners voted at a June 14 meeting to reduce the rate for septage discharged at the town’s wastewater treatment plant.

Septage haulers now pay 24 cents per gallon to dump septage pumped from private septic systems at the wastewater treatment plant.

That is a reduction from 28 cents per gallon, the price in effect for septage hauled from all Island towns since January 2010.

The new rate took effect on July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

All other rates remained the same. The rate for sewer customers is $65 per drain. Establishments that serve food, with 25 or fewer seats, pay a basic annual charge of $1,375. Larger establishments pay the basic charge, plus an additional $13.75 per seat, per year.

The septage charges and procedures were the subject of a state police investigation in 2010. In January, 2011, retired Massachusetts Judge John Paul Sullivan issued a harshly critical report on billing irregularities, management lapses, and violations of public records laws at the wastewater department. Judge Sullivan was appointed as an independent counsel by selectmen.

“A proper audit could not be conducted and, in this case, there were insufficient records to conduct an effective criminal investigation,” Judge Sullivan wrote. “We will never know how many gallons went unrecorded, and therefore unbilled, between 2002 and 2010.”