YOU ARE HERE: Central Kentucky Home→Collections→Consent Decree

Winchester, WMU borrow $1M for sewers

October 19, 2012|By Casey Castle

The Winchester Board of Commissioners approved a resolution to borrow $1 million for the Bel-Air sanitary sewer improvements during its regular meeting earlier this week.

The loan will come from the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority, or KIA, and will go toward a consent decree item.

The project is part of a consent decree from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after the agency filed complaints against Winchester and WMU for violating the Clean Water Act.

In 2007, the City of Winchester and WMU entered into the consent decree with the EPA, which requires both boards to improve the wastewater collection system and eliminate sewer overflows.
The consent decree agreement runs through 2025.

The completion date for the Bel-Air project is July 31, 2013, according to a departmental report given to the Winchester Municipal Utilities Commission by WMU General Manager Mike Flynn at the utility panel’s meeting Thursday night. WMU will pay for the design of the project, and the construction will be covered by the KIA funds.

Winchester City Manager Ken Kerns said loans come after other funding possibilities, such as grants, are exhausted.

“We try to get as much of the Community Development Block Grant as we can to help in the financing of the projects,” he said. “If you can get CDBG money in there, that’s less you have to finance. We certainly apply at every opportunity. That doesn’t mean we will always get them.”

KIA requires approval from both WMU and the city before issuing loans.

“They give us a good interest rate and allow us to finance these projects,”¿Kerns said.

KIA approved the funding of the project in February and all easements required for the project have already been obtained. Bids were accepted for the project in June, going to Free Contracting.

Contact Casey Castle at ccastle@winchestersun.com.

|

|

|