Blandford Water Plant Upgrade Balloons to $925,000 Under DEP Consent Order

BLANDFORD -- December 12, 2022, Blandford's water plant SCADA upgrade has ballooned from a $262,000 estimate to roughly $925,000, engineers told the Select Board Monday. James Papanitreau of Wright Pierce walked the board through scope additions including redundant servers, a new soda ash pH-correction system, five turbidity meters, and fiber-optic communications, saying the plant is operating on Windows 7 with a computer that "has no way" to display plant status if it fails. The project is subject to a DEP consent order, and partial financing includes a $350,000 state revolving fund loan; officials acknowledged a significant funding gap remains. Separately, the board unanimously appointed retired Westfield Bank Vice President Kevin Green to a three-year Finance Committee term. The board also voted to adopt a single residential and commercial tax rate under MGL Chapter 40, Section 56, with town assessors reporting average residential property values rising 14 percent, the tax rate falling from $14.79 to an estimated $13.60 per thousand, and an average tax bill increase of roughly $189.