Voters will be asked to gather at a July 24 special Town Meeting to consider spending more than $30 million to replace failing parts of the town’s sewage treatment plant.

On Tuesday, June 27, the Select Board approved five sewer-related articles to be voted on at the special Town Meeting – most notably one for $36 million, to repair the “headworks and clarifier” at the Water Pollution Control Facility. The headworks is where the wastewater enters the plant and the clarifier is used to remove the solids from the liquid.

Select Board Chair Judith Whiteside explained that the facility is not working as well as it used to due to age and needs repairs.

If approved, the repairs would be paid for through long-term borrowing.

The Special Town Meeting will be held July 24, at 7 p.m. Wareham Elementary School. Residents are advised to arrive at 6:30 p.m. for time to check in.

The second and fifth articles both address rescinding the previous approval of $3 million for sewer repair on Swifts Beach Road. The repairs still need to be made, but the Sewer Commission is considering other options after residents balked at a requirement that many homes install expensive “grinder pumps.”

While the second, inserted by the Sewer Commission, and the fifth, written by Town Administrator Derek Sullivan, aimed to accomplish the same purpose, the Select Board is recommending passage of only Article V to make the process of revamping the Swifts Beach project smoother.

The third article asks for $300,000 for an engineering plan of the Swifts Beach sewer lines into a pump station.

Whiteside said if approved, it is not not yet clear where the funding would come from.

The fourth, written by the Sewer Commission, would transfer $1.1 million in funds from “retained earnings” to pay expenses that were previously approved.

While that sounds simple, Sullivan warned the Select Board that passage of the article at that time would interfere with the town’s ability to get state approval to set a Fiscal 2024 tax rate.