Boscawen is edging ever closer to having an operating budget draft for town meeting in March.

The last few department proposals will be made next Wednesday to the select board, and a budget public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25.

In the meantime, town co-administrator Alan Hardy said the town is sorting out one of its most significant, additional costs: wastewater treatment facility upgrades.

Boscawen uses the Penacook Wastewater Treatment Plant run by the city of Concord. Hardy said the municipalities are sharing the cost of a scheduled upgrade for various equipment.

Boscawen’s payment portion is approximately $750,000, based on the town’s capacity use, and the funds will be raised through a sewer rate hike.

Because the town’s overall capacity is based on previous use by the Penacook Mill tannery (which closed in 1987), however, that historic capacity, though unused, has to be paid for by the town.

With the facility upgrades coming down the pike, Hardy said the town now has to figure out how much of the $750,000 will come from individual payments versus the town’s tax dollars.

Boscawen’s engineer, Underwood Engineers, is currently doing a study on the issue.

Without a firm number for this cost or others, Hardy said the town doesn’t have a preliminary operating budget number – yet.

“From what we can see, we don’t expect there are going to be any real large increases,” he added. Hardy noted most department budget proposals are within one to two percentage points of last year’s budget.

There is one certainty: employee benefit costs are rising in Boscawen like they are everywhere else.

He produced a handout by New Hampshire Retirement System that documented employer contribution increases.

“The number for me, for an example, as an administrator, was 11.17 percent, and it’s going up to 11.38 percent,” Hardy said.

“Like most towns and cities, we’re dealing with the change in health – health insurance policies – and retirement,” he said.

(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)