The Board of Selectmen Tuesday voted to pay the $155,432 toward unexpected costs that resulted from the Cromesett and Oakdale Sewer projects.

The vote was delayed during the board's October 4 meeting after confusion about whether the town, the Wareham Fire District's water department, or the project's contractor was responsible to pay a $5,990.53 bill - part of the total $155,432 - to repair a water main that broke during the course of construction.

"If the contractor is busting up water mains, that’s the contractor’s responsibility," Selectman Cara Winslow argued.

Mike Guidice, a representative from the engineering firm Camp Dresser & Mckee (CDM), said that in this particular instance the contractor sought compensation because the repair took more than six hours.

When asked by Winslow if the damage was the result of the excavation the contractor was completing for the project, Giudice replied “clearly,” but added that "it wasn’t due to any negligence.”

Giudice asserted that the contractor had been diligent about repairing other damage done during excavation and construction.

“If the contractor hits a water main he’s responsible for repairing it, and that’s what’s been happening all along,” said Giudice.

Winslow said she wanted to know “why the contractor did work that we have a water department to do … and then send us the bill for it.”

Selectman Steve Holmes disagreed with Winslow, emphasizing the need to take care of broken water mains in a timely fashion.

"I can’t sit here and watch the contractor get bashed," Holmes said. "Families were without water and it needed to be fixed."

Holmes argued that the town has received various services for free from the contractor over the course of its work on various sewer projects and noted that the cost of repairing the water main was a paltry amount in comparison to those services.

"I just want to make sure the right party ponies up," Winslow said.

Ultimately, the Selectmen voted unanimously to pay the $155,432 bill.

In other town business:

The Board of Selectmen was presented with a proposal from Michael Cercone of Scollay Square Investment LLC to purchase Wareham’s delinquent property tax liens.

The investment firm would be required to pay the town all of the owed taxes on the properties as well as 50% of the interest owed. It would then collect a percentage of the remaining interest.

Cercone said that Wareham has $3 million in delinquent property taxes.

“Nobody wants to push people to pay, but if you don’t collect these taxes in the first couple years, it balloons out of control," Cercone said. "A lot of towns don’t have the resources to pursue delinquent taxes."

Cercone said that the practice of selling liens is not uncommon, noting that Worchester, Methuen, and Lowell have done so.

Town Administrator Mark Andrews seemed to be on-board with the idea.

"We’re never going to catch up," he said.

No decision was made Tuesday regarding the proposal.