Douglas Board of Health approves $525,000 in budgets, grants South Street septic variances

DOUGLAS — March 30, 2026 — Douglas Board of Health approves $525,358 in fiscal year 2027 budgets and grants two septic setback variances at a heavily constrained South Street property. The board unanimously approved a general operating budget of $145,215 — covering health, public health nurse, and animal inspection wages and expenses — and a transfer station enterprise budget of $380,143, which is projected to be offset by roughly $350,143 in sticker revenue with a maximum $30,000 draw on retained earnings currently standing near $273,000. Engineer Mark Allen of Allen Engineering and Associates won approval for a 10-foot-to-7-foot property-line setback reduction and a well-to-wetlands variance at 30 South Street, describing the one-and-a-half-acre wetland-hemmed parcel as "the number one" toughest septic project in his 30-year career; the design calls for a three-foot-high raised mound leach field ringed by paver walls and a 40-mil polyethylene liner. The board also discussed pursuing a multi-year solid waste hauling contract to replace annual renewals, reviewed three landfill cap repair alternatives prepared by consultant Haskell — with Alternative 2 rated highest on effectiveness at lowest cost — and agreed to research eligibility for a state Reduce, Reuse, Repair micro-grant before its May 15 deadline, with 1,099 transfer station stickers sold to date in the new fiscal year.