Residents of the Cromesett Park and Oakdale neighborhoods peppered town officials on Saturday with questions about the cost to them of extending sewer lines to those neighborhoods.

Selectmen Bruce Sauvageau and Jane Donahue, Town Administrator Mark Andrews, and consultant Michael Guidice responded for 2¼ hours with explanations of why they could not provide an estimate of how much the project would cost each property owner, even though construction began last week.

The Town Hall meeting, set weeks ago for a time that ended up coinciding with the start of the Vikings victory parade, drew approximately 150 participants - many of them vocally angry at the prospect of having to pay upwards of $20,000 per household for extension of sewer service to the two neighborhoods.

At issue was the "betterment fee," the amount each property owner along a newly installed sewer line is required to pay to cover the cost of the sewer extension. In Wareham, the betterment fee is calculated by taking the entire cost of a sewer extension project and dividing it by the number of properties that benefit from the extension. Although not all property owners are required to immediately tie into a new sewer line, the betterment fee is mandatory for any property owner who gets the ability to tie into the line. Even spread over 20 years with the town charging only two-percent interest, any betterment fee is a big number for most homeowners.

Saundra Silvia of Apple Street in Oakdale said David Simmons, superintendent of the sewage treatment system, told her the betterment fee would likely be about $25,000 for each affected Cromesett and Oakdale property.

"I don't know how he could come up with that number," Sauvageau replied. He noted that Simmons, laid off as of April 1, "is no longer with us." When Silvia persisted that she had been provided with the $25,000 figure, the chairman of selectmen was more pointed: "I believe you. I don't believe him."

But, he added, "I'm not saying it's going to be that number or higher or lower."

The closest residents got to a solid number was when Donahue took the microphone to say that the Cromesett/Oakdale fee would be at least as high as the betterment fee in Parkwood Beach, where sewer lines were installed last year. A year ago, Parkwood residents were told that their betterment fee would be in the $18,500-$19,000 range.

"We do have some other issues going on," Donahue said. But "you can expect it (the Cromesett/Oakdale betterment fee) to be at least as high, probably higher."

Andrews pointed out after the meeting that the Parkwood Beach fee itself has not been finalized and will not be until after the final road paving is completed this summer.

Explaining why Cromesett/Oakdale property owners will probably have to pay more than Parkwood property owners, consultant Guidice  of engineering firm Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. explained that, while the Parkwood Beach project was more expensive than Cromesett/Oakdale would be, the Parkwood cost will be divided among approximately 440 property owners. Cromesett/Oakdale costs will be divided among only about 260 property owners.

Selectmen, Andrews, and Guidice explained the lack of a Cromesett/Oakdale estimate by pointing to the recent receipt of $1.5 million in federal stimulus funds to help defray the combined costs of the Cromesett/Oakdale and Parkwood projects and the fact that the final cost of the project will not be known until after the project is completed.

Even after such explanations had been provided, residents --  at times lined up six-deep to ask questions -- repeatedly expressed disbelief that the town could not provide a betterment fee estimate on a project for which a contract has already been awarded and ground broken. Work began last week on the Cromesett portion of the project and is scheduled to begin in Oakdale in April.

Clearly concerned that Simmons' $25,000 estimate is close to what they will ultimately be charged, residents pointed to the fact that Parkwood Beach residents were provided with a cost estimate at a similar point in their project last year.

Residents also had some harsh words for how Wareham's entire sewer system is financed.

When the system was set up about 20 years ago, it was designed to be entirely funded by sewer users -- with no support from other taxpayers in town. The cost of operating the sewage treatment facility and system is paid for by sewer users, with each residential unit now being charged an annual $584 sewer user fee. The cost of any extension is borne by the property owners who will directly benefit -- people who must also pay a $200 sewer connection fee and all the costs associated with hiring private contractors to (1) connect their homes to the sewer system and (2) crush and fill existing septic systems.

Among the apparent inequities of this system that were pointed out on Saturday:

• The extensions of sewer lines to waterfront neighborhoods is required by the state Department of Environmental Protection to remedy water pollution problems. Cleaner beaches and waterways will benefit all town residents, not just those who are paying for the sewer extension. Joe Mendes Sr., who spoke at the meeting on behalf of his 99-year-old Oakdale-resident mother, said after the meeting that, when Hyannis recently extended sewer lines to three neighborhoods, the cost was borne by the entire town.

• Every dwelling unit is charged the same $584 annually, regardless of whether it is occupied by one person for 3 months of the year or a family of five year-round.

Pushed by a summer Cromesett resident, Donahue defended the flat fee: "If we were to meter (sewer usage), anyone who lives here year-round would see their bill quadruple."

Neither she nor Sauvageau attempted to defend the system of putting all sewer costs on sewer users, but kept stressing, in Sauvageau's words, "this is the system that we are dealing with." Sauvageau added: "The way you change the system is you go to Town Meeting with a warrant article that says 'spread the cost over the entire town.'"

Selectmen John Cronan attended the meeting but stood quietly at the side of the room. Because none of the selectmen were scheduled to be at the meeting - most of the town officials present gradually filtered in as the basketball celebration outside of Town Hall concluded - Cronan said that his moving to the front of the room would constitute a violation of the Open Meeting law by having a majority of Selectmen participating in an unscheduled meeting.

Nonetheless, he privately noted: The sewer system "was set up wrong years ago. These people are getting killed."

While most of the 2¼ hours was consumed with discussion of cost issues, Guidice took some time at the start of the session to explain the construction process. On each stretch of roadway, the main sewer lines are installed first, then a different crew installs the "stubs" for individual properties, then the trench hole is filled and paved and left for a winter to allow any settling to take place. The final curb-to-curb paving is done the following summer.

Contractor P. Gioioso & Sons is working with town departments and others to assure the minimum impact on traffic, school bus routes, and water and gas service.

Nevertheless, Guidice warned that there will be unforeseen problems. On the first day of Cromesett work, he said Gioioso crews hit a water line "that wasn't where it was supposed to be." The break was quickly remedied but not before nearby residents lost water service for a short period of time.