An anticipated cost estimate for changing Holmen’s fluoride delivery system, as much as $76,000, was not ready for village board consideration at this month’s meeting.

The village’s Public Works Committee had tabled the matter the previous week, giving committee members more time to analyze the cost involved, according to Public Works Director Dean Olson. He said he expects to bring back the proposal at the committee’s March meeting.

Olson said his department can’t switch to powdered sodium fluoride until significant equipment modifications are completed on Holmen’s four wells. With the estimated price tag totaling as much as $76,000, Olson said it will require the full village board approval to spend that much.

If a recommendation is approved by the committee in March, it might be placed on the Holmen Village Board agenda for the following week.

In January, the village board approved the switch to powdered sodium fluoride by a 4-3 vote. Some board members consider the powdered form to be a safer additive for Holmen’s public water system. Olson advised the board that changing to sodium fluoride would require mechanical changes to the delivery system.

The board put the matter in Olson’s hands, instructing him to investigate just how it will cost to change Holmen’s wells from liquid hydrofluorosilicic acid to powder-form sodium fluoride.