Published: October 28, 2009 09:52 pm      

Stimul-yes! Georgetown gets $3.5 million for wastewater treatment facility

Town still without sewer deal with New Albany for 2010

Georgetown is on track to having construction on a wastewater treatment facility started next year, as officials announced Wednesday that a $3.5 million federal stimulus grant has been awarded to the Floyd County town.

The grant is from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — federal stimulus money that’s allocated through the Indiana State Revolving Fund.

Georgetown’s deal with New Albany for sewer service expired earlier this year, and the two sides have been at odds over a new contract and whether the town would pay $450,000 to remain on New Albany’s system, or agree to a different deal.

Georgetown has never had a wastewater plant, and the town has faced legal battles seemingly every step of the way in trying to construct a facility.

The original site picked by Georgetown for a plant, known as the O’Brien property, was frowned upon by Floyd County planners and Edwardsville residents who live near the site.

The O’Brien property is outside Georgetown limits, and an attempt to annex it was denied in court earlier this month. But Georgetown had already decided to build elsewhere with urging from the county and the promise of $1.4 million from Floyd if the town picked a different location for its plant.

Georgetown Town Council President Billy Stewart said during a press conference Wednesday most of the county money will not be needed.

Georgetown is now only looking at about $360,000 in expenses for property purchase and easement acquisitions.

The site for the plant will now be near the west end of Georgetown, just outside the town limits. Stewart said the property will have to be annexed, but the plant will be out of site from any public road.

He thanked State Rep. Ed Clere for pushing the plant as a stimulus-worthy project. Clere was credited by Georgetown officials for working behind the scenes to assure the funding.

“Southern Indiana seems to always be overlooked when it comes to money being spent in Indiana,” Stewart said, as he smiled and turned to Clere. “I just want to shake your hand.”

As a result of the grant, Georgetown sewer bills are expected to remain at about $64 a month. Town leaders had predicted bills would increase to nearly $82 a month to cover the cost of debt service for financing a facility.

The grant and subsequent wastewater plant are benefits not only for Georgetown, but also New Albany, Clere said. That’s because New Albany will free up about 226,000 gallons of wastewater capacity a day when Georgetown moves its 1,200 customers off the city’s system.

Due to federally-issued caps, New Albany’s sewer capacity is limited. The city will be able to sell the additional sewer space once Georgetown has its own plant.

“This project seemed to be one that would do a good job of leveraging stimulus funds,” Clere said. “It’s a great opportunity for Georgetown.”

But New Albany Deputy Mayor Carl Malyz said that New Albany doesn’t have a capacity issue. Malyz said there are problems with the collection system but that does not relate to Georgetown being a New Albany customer.

“It’s not going to have a significant benefit for the city of New Albany,” Malyz said of the new Georgetown plan.

D. A. Andrews, sewer attorney for Georgetown, said work could begin on the plant by next spring. That would leave the town on New Albany’s system for at least one more year, as Andrews said it takes about 12 months to construct the wastewater facility.

Andrews acknowledged there is still not an agreement between New Albany and Georgetown over wastewater service. He hopes the grant will prove to New Albany Georgetown is serious about getting off the city’s system as soon as possible.

Earlier this month, the New Albany City Council rejected an offer that would have extended service to Georgetown for up to five years. Under the deal, Georgetown customers would have incurred a 3 percent rate increase each year and the town would have paid New Albany $25,000.

New Albany Council President Dan Coffey said the deal would have passed if it hadn’t included language allowing the city’s sewer board to negotiate rates with Georgetown.

“I’ve always said, the contract itself I did not have a problem with. It was the other wording that was put in to give the sewer board authority to set rates,” he said.

But other council members, including Pat McLaughlin, have called for Georgetown to pay $450,000 as stipulated would be owed in the original deal if the town remained on the city’s system past 2009.

Whether that amount was meant to be a penalty or a payment to cover infrastructure needs has been debated by New Albany and Georgetown leaders. Stewart argued before the New Albany council the $450,000 was to cover years of future service, which Georgetown didn’t plan on needing since it wanted its own plant.

New Albany proponents have countered the payment is owed because of the wear to the city’s infrastructure and since Georgetown is still on the system. The New Albany sewer board ruled in favor of removing the $450,000 penalty, but the council has the last say.

Georgetown should bring back the ordinance stripped of giving the sewer board power to negotiate and it will receive consideration by the council, Coffey said.

Coffey praised the work of Clere and Georgetown for being proactive in seeking the stimulus grant.

“It’s wonderful, wonderful news,” he said, adding he plans to contact Clere about stormwater and sewer projects for New Albany that might qualify for stimulus.

Georgetown initially applied for the grant in February, Andrews said. Town leaders worked to get design and land acquisition in place so the project would be considered shovel ready and have a better chance of being chosen, he said.

The stimulus award also ends a legal dispute between Georgetown and Capitol Engineering, the Jeffersonville construction team chosen to build the plant. The town contracted Capitol Engineering to construct the plant in 2006, and the firm had purchased equipment and finished design plans for the facility.

But holdups over property acquisition delayed the start of the project, which left Capitol Engineering and Georgetown at odds over payment.

John Hughes, co-owner of Hughes Group which owns Capitol Engineering, thanked Clere in a news release as the company will be able to construct the facility.

“If it wasn’t for Rep. Clere, none of us would be here,” he said. “With his help, we were able to keep the town out of spending tons of unnecessary money and saved us all a lot of trouble.”



SO YOU KNOW

• Through federal stimulus money, Indiana has $125 million to give to state communities for wastewater and drinking water projects. For more information, visit www.in.gov/ifa/srf



BY THE NUMBERS

• $82 — What the predicted cost per month would have been to cover the cost of debt service for financing a facility

• $64 — The current cost per month, which is expected to remain the same