Spending nearly a quarter of a million dollars from the Free Cash fund for road repairs raised more than a few eyebrows at Mattapoisett’s Special Town Meeting, but voters decided to accept the article in lieu of costlier repairs down the road.

Highway Surveyor Barry Denham proposed a $230,000 article to pave Mattapoisett Neck Road and surrounding roads following a major sewer project by the town’s Water and Sewer Department.

“The Neck sewer project did not include paving Neck Road when it was originally drawn because they weren’t planning on running the sewer project down the road,” said Denham.

He explained that the original plan was to run the sewer along the side of the road; however, it became necessary to damaged portions of the road.

“Their proposed fix was only to fix the portion the was damaged. That will lead the rest of the road for us to replace,” said Denham.

Waiting to pave the entire road one or two years down the line would end up costing the town a minimum of $500,000, he explained.

Several residents questioned the wisdom of the expenditure and why the plans were not included in the original sewer project.

Selectmen Chair Jordan Collyer said he was skeptical of the article at first, but called it a “necessary evil.”

“Barry has the opportunity to take care of the economy of scale,” said Collyer. “We spend $230,000 to get the best bang for our buck and take the largest facet of Barry’s road plan off the table.”

Residents approved the article with a vote of 173 to 2.

The paving will begin in the spring and Denham said he hopes to extend it to as many side roads along Mattapoisett Neck as possible.