The lawn-care company that was fined $2,000 for applying pesticides too close to a school well without a special permit has refused to reimburse the Pelham School District for water testing.

Dan Dellanno, owner of LawnMaster of Methuen, Mass., acknowledged in a letter to the school district that the company was fined by the state for not keeping proper distance from the well. It was not done intentionally, and his company is not responsible for water tests the school board ordered, he wrote.

“The products we use are not persistent in the soil and do not leach into wells or water supplies,” wrote Dellanno in his March 8, 2007 letter. “This miscalculation is regretful; we feel that it did not merit a water quality test; there were no traces of pesticides detected in the water supply. LawnMaster is not responsible for the cost of the water test that was performed.”

Dellanno paid a $2,000 fine in January after the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture learned his company applied pesticides at Pelham High School within 400 feet of its gravel-packed well without a special permit.

After he did so, the school board, at the urging of member Linda Mahoney, requested that Dellanno reimburse the school district $1,200 they spent to have the water tested last summer.

While the district waited for results of the test, water dispensers and cups were provided at the high school and school bubblers were wrapped in plastic so they could not be used. Student- athletes were told to bring bottled water to practices.

No problems were found with the water, according to Brian Gallagher, the school district’s business administrator.

At the school board’s March 28 meeting, during which Dellanno’s letter was read, member Michael Conrad reiterated that suing LawnMaster for reimbursement could cost as much as the test itself.

Mahoney said the school district won’t be using the company again.

Recently, the school board and the board of selectmen awarded a three-year landscaping contract to Santastic Landscaping for maintenance of school and town grounds.

The school board requested a clause be placed in the contract that prohibits pesticide applications without their approval.