Engineers from Camp, Dresser, McKee, and Smith have a $18.4 million, 10-year plan to fix the roads, sewers, and drainage pipes in Marion’s Village.

But, the project has left residents demanding to know how the project would be funded and which roads would be fixed first.

On Thursday night, engineers, town officials, and residents gathered for a public hearing on the proposed project.

Of the project, resident Tom Magauran said, “There’s a lot of complexity here that goes to the question of how are we going to pay for it?”

Since CDM conducted a study on the Village in 2006, engineers have been working with town officials on drafting a plan to fix several problems.

“The drainage pipes are very old and they are deteriorating,” said CDM engineer Shawn Syde.

“The pipes cannot carry the amount of water they are supposed to, which leads to street flooding.”

Rob Zora, Superintendent of the Department of Public Works, agreed.

“We’ve been hearing the public outcry for a number of years to pave the streets. Before you do that, you have to fix the infrastructure. To not fix what’s underneath is foolish,” Zora said.

The roads in the Village are in the poorest conditions in town, Syde said.

In CDM’s plan, the roads would be repaved and the sidewalks would be made handicap accessible.

To complete the project, Syde said the repairs would be done in five phases spread out over the course of 10 years.

This would give the town time to seek additional funding for the project.

In November, the town was awarded a $1 million grant from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program to put toward repairs on Ryder Lane and Spring Street.

The town also has $1 million from state funding earmarked for road repairs.

CDM first proposed the project last year at the cost of $27 million, which met with outrage from some residents who questioned how the town would fund the project.

Since then, Syde said the plans have been modified to cut costs.

For instance, the plan no longer includes brick sidewalks.

As for how the project would affect taxpayers in town, the town’s Finance Director Judy Mooney assured residents that the tax rate would not be affected for the first phase of the project.

However, subsequent phases would have an affect on either the water or sewer rates. How much of a change is not yet known at this time, Mooney said.

The phases of the project were broken up based on priority, Syde said.

The roads and sewers needing the most attention, including Ryder Lane and Spring Street, are lined up for the first phase that is going to cost $3.8 million.

Resident Peter Winters wanted to know why Front Street was not a part of the first phase.

“Front Street is the worst road in town,” Winters said. “I don’t know why we’re waiting five years to have it done.”

In response, Syde said that the main drain lines are located on Ryder Lane and South Street, which means those areas have to be rebuilt first

Town Administrator Paul Dawson also added that the costs of the project would most likely be reduced as time goes by.

“We don’t know that the $18.4 million cost is the correct number,” Dawson said. “As we get further into the design, estimates become clearer. The cost is generally reduced by fine-tuning the design of the project.”

CDM will hold a second public hearing on the project on April 25.

The engineers are aiming to have a proposal ready to go before May Town Meeting for approval on the first phase of the project.