On Election Day, Yarmouth voters approved a ballot measure to fund three infrastructure projects, 4,312 to 1,768 votes. The $10.5 million bond will go toward rehabbing the Harbor Pump Station, replacing the Davis Landing Bridge, and fixing up the Cousin’s Island walkway.
The town estimates that on top of the principal, the interest on the bond – calculated at a 4% interest rate over a 25-year maturity – will cost $5.6 million.
Prior to the election, Town Manager Scott LaFlamme called the projects “critical” and said the town should not delay in addressing them. He said he was grateful to get the support of Yarmouth residents on funding the projects.
“I think part of the reason why we wanted to have this particular question on the ballot in November was that we felt like it was going to be a really representative vote from the community. Yarmouth always comes out, especially for general elections,” said LaFlamme.
“This was really a wonderful show of support from the community for these things that you know are a lot of money. They’re infrastructure projects, they cost a lot of money, but they’re really necessary for the work that we do and for the services that we can provide to them,” he said.
Yarmouth’s Harbor Pump Station. Contributed / Town of Yarmouth
Roughly $7 million of the $10.5 million will go toward upgrading the Harbor Pump Station, which is located on Route 88. The Harbor Pump Station is the largest of the town’s some 30 pump stations and handles 85% of the town’s sewer flow. It is no longer up to code and requires significant repairs, according to town materials. The Harbor Pump Station is also the only facility that can remove grit – inorganic matter that must be removed manually – from the sewer flow system-wide. The current grit removal function is old and does not work efficiently, according to the town. The bond money will pay for transferring the town’s grit removal system to its wastewater plant on Whitcombs Way, and significantly reconfiguring the existing Harbor Pump Station.
About $1.5 million of the total bond amount will be used to replace Davis Landing Bridge, a concrete structure built in 1936 that carries East Main Street traffic over Pratt’s Brook. The bridge is owned by the town, not the state, and is in need of repairs, according to the Maine Department of Transportation. Maine DOT last inspected the bridge in 2023 and determined that parts of it are in poor condition.
Lastly, $2 million will go toward rehabbing the well-trafficked pedestrian walkway that stretches along Cousin’s Street from Sandy Point Beach to Wharf Road. Currently, the walkway does not meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, according to the town.
The total cost to Yarmouth taxpayers has yet to be determined. In a most-expensive case scenario, the town could expect to pay $830,000 in principal and interest for these projects in FY 2026, according to LaFlamme’s presentation. This would equate to an additional 48 cents on the tax rate, or an additional $240 for homeowners with a house assessed at $500,000, said LaFlamme.
In a more optimistic prediction, the town estimates that they could pay zero for the new projects in FY ’26 and pay $420,000 in interest in FY ’27, depending on when the bonds are released to the market and if the town uses a bond anticipation note for design and engineering, according to LaFlamme.
The town has been looking at some alternative funding sources, he said, such as Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant funds, and moving around money internally, like using tax increment financing funds to pay for some of the annual debt service obligation, to offset the impact to taxpayers.
“So now that it’s been approved, we’ve got some more work to do to refine those numbers and to work with our bond council to finalize what our strategy might be,” he said.