NEW GLOUCESTER — Selectmen set the tax rate Monday night at $13.45 per thousand dollars of assessed property value, a 50 cent increase.

The tax bill for a home valued at $100,000 will go from $1,295 to $1,345.

Higher assessments from Cumberland County and SAD 15 account for the increase.

The new rate leaves an overlay of $73,645 for 2013-14.

“We’re the only ones tightening our belt,” Selectman Nathaniel Berry IV said.

Selectmen signed the Assessors Certification of Assessment valuation at $459,482,010.

In other business, the board got an update from the New Gloucester Water District trustees. District Vice Chairman James Giffune said construction of the pump station for the $2.3 million Upper Gloucester village water system has started and is ahead of schedule.

Tree trimming along the distribution line will begin Tuesday.

Gendron and Gendron of Lewiston will begin running the mains on the Bald Hill Road Fairgrounds to Route 100 beginning next week.

Other segments of the water line along Route 100 and Upper Village Street and Peacock Hill Road begin in early October and finish by the second week in November, Town Planner Paul First said.

The water system will be connected next spring, with final hook-ups and operation expected in July.

The water district has been working with funding agencies for the $2.3 million project that will provide clean drinking water to 50 residences and business.

District trustees recently voted that if the owner of a vacant lot on the water line requests a hook-up, a tap could be installed during construction and may require a fee.

Residents living within the district will vote Sept. 9 on allowing the Water District to accept an $800,000 debt limit.

“This is an administrative action,” First said. The loan was approved by voters in February but requires additional voter approval by those living in the district.

The district will assume the debt payment, not the town, according to the grant.