The Green River City Council decided a larger loan is needed to pay for the long-desired wastewater treatment facility.
In a 6-1 vote, the Council agreed to seek a $10 million increase in the principal amount of the city's Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan, creating a new $45.1 million loan. Councilman Ron Williams was the lone dissenting vote.
The Council voted after hearing Public Works Director Mark Westenskow detail the history of the project and the need for a higher loan amount. The city has encountered a number of setbacks while attempting to start construction on the treatment plant. Originally, the master plan for the project was completed in 2015, with $30 million in loans being secured in 2018. After construction permits were submitted in 2019, the 2020 pandemic happened and resulted in heavy inflation for construction materials and other costs.
The city received its constriction permits in 2021, but was forced to reject bids it received for the project as the bids were over budget. Last year, the city received a $7.5 million loan increase and a $6.245 million grant, but bids received this year were again over budget. The bid range for the project is between $48 million and $52 million. With the requested loan increase, the city will have $53.7 million available for construction if it is approved by the State Loan and Investment Board. SLIB's next meeting takes place April 6.
Wastewater rates will increase over the next several years as the city aims to collect an amount to pay off the loan and service the facility in the coming decades. The average wastewater rate for fiscal year 2023 is $43.68 a month using 675 cubic feet of water and $55.05 a month at 1,000 cubic feet of water. By fiscal year 2027, those average rates will be $74.03 a month at 675 cubic feet and $95.80 at 1,000 cubic feet. Those rates are calculated using a base rate with an added usage rate that differs between households as larger households use more water. The usage rates are calculated during low usage winter months.
While the city could wait for conditions to improve with the money it already has, Council members are nervous to do this because of what happened with the closure of the landfill and establishment of Green River's solid waste transfer station.
"It was my first year on city Council," Councilman Robert Berg said. "The first few months that it got brought up, we only had months left before that landfill was closed."
Berg said the rate studies at the time suggested rates would double and triple for residents if the city reopened the land and made the landfill EPA compliant.
"We really had to think outside the box," he said. "That was a really tough year to be a first-year councilman up here because we didn't have options."
Both Berg and Gary Killpack believe the EPA and DEQ will require the Council to do something and don't want to force a future Council into the same situation they faced with the landfill.
For Councilwoman Sherry Bushman, it comes down to a quality of life issue.
"It's our river we need to protect," she said.
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