Stewartstown Sewer & Water Department
Sewer Plant Expansion Progress. (as of March 2006)
The Stewartstown Borough Authority (Authority) has received the final discharge permit for the sewer treatment plant expansion. It was issued on February 16th, 2007. In the meantime, detailed plans and specifications have been prepared, and the Authority has advertised for bids on the expansion. Bids were received on January 30th, 2007. The Authority met on February 21st and approved the notice of intent to award bids for construction. The tentative timeline is:
March 5th: Stewartstown Borough Council (Council) will adopt the final financial plan.
March 19th: Council will hold a special meeting to lock in interest rates on the $2.9 million bond issue.
March 22nd: Officials will close on a Pennvest loan of $392,838 and grant of $432,000.
April 24: All monies from the bond issue will become available.
May or shortly thereafter: Construction will begin.
The Authority is pleased to have obtained grant and loan funding from Pennvest for a portion of the expansion costs. Over $800,000 were obtained, with about half of this money being grant funding and the remainder a loan. The remainder of the cost of the sewer plant expansion will be from a combination of bank account funds planned for this expansion plus the issuance of bonds. The total cost of the project is now expected to cost around 4.5 million dollars ($4.5M) due to the increased costs of compliance for the Chesapeake Bay Strategy limits being imposed by DEP, as well as, higher construction costs. Of this amount, a bond issue is expected to cover approximately $2.9M.
The entire process of trying to obtain permits and funding over the last number of years has not been without a lot of effort by many folks. The ‘draft’ DEP permit was actually published six times over several years due to policy and staff changes at DEP, as well as, there being an approximately one-year delay in order for DEP to hash out the Chesapeake Bay policy. The Authority is very appreciative of the support from Senator Mike Waugh and Representative Stanley Saylor to obtain the Pennvest funding. In addition, the Borough is working with the Authority to obtain and support the bond financing. And, both Hopewell Township and the Borough have written letters of support for the Pennvest financing.
Finally, the total cost of the project debt will ultimately come from user fees. The Authority recently raised the fixed portion of the quarterly sewer rates from $68 per unit to $85 per unit in expectation of a minimum $3M cost. In order to satisfy the requirements for the Pennvest grant and loan funding, the Authority must continue to ensure it can cover the debt. In order to do this, the Authority has decided to continue to phase in rate increases over the next few years to pay the debt service, as opposed to an immediate rate increase. The fixed portion of the quarterly sewer rate will be increased to $95 per unit in 2008 and $105 per unit in 2009.
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