Residents who live in the newly-sewered neighborhoods of Parkwood Beach, Tempest Knob, Linwood and Ladd avenues will face a $300 fine per day up to a maximum of $5,000 if they do not tie into the town sewer by February 15.

Of the 516 residents that were notified last year to connect to the sewer lines by the February 15 deadline, 200 have still not connected, Water Pollution Control Facility Director Guy Campinha told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday.

Members of the Board of Selectmen sympathized with the fast-approaching financial burden facing residents and discussed granting an extension to the remaining households that have not tied in. Some said more notices should have been sent to residents to remind them of the tie-in requirement.

Selectman Steve Holmes said more notification probably wouldn't have made a difference.

"You can send me 47 letters," he argued. "If I don't have the $5,000, I'm not going to" tie into the sewer.

The Selectmen ultimately decided to grant extensions to the remaining households on a case-by-case basis to ensure that only property owners with valid reasons and hardship would be granted an extension.

The board also agreed to send out a postcard to remind residents of the deadline and the fees.

"We don't want to penalize anybody," Campinha said after the meeting. "We want people to tie into the sewer system."

In addition to the costs of tying into the sewer line -- costs that range from $1,900 to $4,000 according to Campinha, Parkwood property owners must also pay a "betterment fee" of approximately $15,000.

Betterment fees, assessed to each property owner in a newly-sewered area, may be paid over a 20-year period, which in Parkwood's case averages out to around $750 per year per residence.

The betterment fees are set based on the total cost of the sewer extension, divided by the number of properties with new-found access to the sewer system.

In addition to the costs of tying in and betterment fees, residents will then have to pay annual sewer user fees to use the sewer system.

The expansion of the town's sewer system has been a hot-button issue in recent years. In 2000, the state Department of Environmental Protection recommended that 12 neighborhoods be sewered by 2024 in an effort to reduce nitrogen in Wareham's waterways. It also suggested that the sewer plant be upgraded, which the town completed in 2005 at a cost of $23 million.

Residents have expressed discontent with the costs associated with expanding the system and upgrading the plant, which are borne by all sewer users -- not all residents. Sewer users have said that the system is inherently unfair, as all residents enjoy cleaner water as a result of sewering.

In other town business:

Representatives of Walmart have met with town representatives and come up with a concept for the Route 28 entrance way to their proposed West Wareham store. The proposal meets MassDOT requirements, said Wareham Town Planner John Charbonneau. The next hearing on Walmart's proposal will be held on February 16 at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall cafeteria.

The Westfield Review and RFP Committee approached the Board of Selectmen to get some clarification on the Request For Proposals (RFP) that will be put out for developers to bid on. The committee will now edit the RFP to get it ready for the Board of Selectmen to release.