OXFORD — Residents will vote Thursday night on rules for a new sewer system that would require some residents with working septic tanks to pay an annual fee to maintain their future connection to the system. 

The 47-page Sewer Ordinance outlines the rules by which the town will regulate the inflow and discharge of wastewater from a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility expected to come online next fall. The ordinance requires residents with property — houses or land — within 150 feet of the pipes now being installed to connect to the system within 90 days of notification at their expense. 

Residents with failed septic tanks will be required to immediately connect, while those with functioning systems will be allowed to continue using them until failure.

Pipes have been laid from Rabbit Valley Road near the Oxford Casino along Route 26 south to Welchville Dam.

Crews are extending those sewer lines into residential neighborhoods along King Street. The project is expected to be completed next spring. 

In the meantime, residents who are not required to immediately connect will be subject to an annual, as yet undetermined, standby fee for “making the service available.” 

Other fees, such as the one-time base connection fee and water consumption usage rate have yet to be set by selectmen. 

Engineers are still calculating charges, which will be determined by an estimate of the number of households to sign up for the service. 

Fees will help pay down the town’s debt service and future projects, operations and maintenance on the sewer. 

Oxford is in the construction stages of a two-phase plan to finance and construct a sewer treatment facility to serve and encourage new business and residential development. 

In April, the town received $23.7 million in loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office for the project.

The funding comes the contractual stipulation that the town enact a sewer ordinance to set uniform standards for users. 

The ordinance creates two types of users for the proposed system, each with different levels of restrictions on what can be pumped into the sewer system. 

The law proposed by the town distinguishes between light residential and commercial use, and heavy industry, which faces steeper restrictions.

On the latter, it sets more stringent controls on the types of wastes industrial users can dump down the drain, requiring them to submit a special application, pay an additional fee and closely monitor their discharge. 

Industries with waste that has the potential to clog lines will be required to install a special filter substation. 

Fines for violating the ordinance, including not complying with the order to connect to the sewer lines, are $200 annually. 

Residents will vote on the ordinance at a special town meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Town Office. Selectmen will hold a regular meeting afterward.

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