SBU Planning $4.8 million in Wastewater Facility Upgrades
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To help finance an upgrade of the wastewater treatment facility operated by Sturgeon Bay Utilities (SBU), the Common Council passed a resolution Tuesday authorizing the issuance and sale of up to $2,587,543 in sewerage system revenue bonds and approving a related $4,312,572 financial assistance agreement.
SBU general manager Jim Stawicki said that though the wastewater treatment facility, which last had a major upgrade in 1980, is well-maintained and meets current operating requirements for its Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, “replacements and upgrades are necessary to meet future permit standards and to achieve certain operational efficiencies.”
Stawicki said the projects to be financed with the revenue bonds include the construction of a biosolids storage facility at the old Door County landfill site near the Idlewild Golf Club, as well as the construction of an ultraviolet disinfection system, including covers on the final clarifiers, for the effluent stream at the wastewater treatment facility.
He said the biosolids project will cost around $1.5 million, while the project at the wastewater treatment plant will be around $3.3 million.
Stawicki said the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Clean Water Fund will provide funds to complete these capital projects, with the debt to be assumed by SBU serviced from its wastewater utility revenues, and no general obligation debt incurred by the city.
“Terms of the debt are quite favorable to our ratepayers with 40% principal forgiveness and an interest rate of 1.287% over the 20-year term of the loan,” he said.
Stawicki said the principal forgiveness will be around $1.752 million.
He said council action was required for the borrowing because SBU is not allowed to take on its own debt.
Stawicki said Sturgeon Bay’s Utility Commission approved the first wastewater rate increase in 12 years that comes to about $5.25 per month for the “average residential user,” effective April 1.
He said another rate increase “of similar magnitude” will likely need to take place early next year to accommodate future projects.
District 3 Alderman Dan Williams, who is on the Utility Commission and also the Finance/Purchasing and Building Committee, which last week recommended the borrowing, said the upgrades make sense.
“You can’t continue to live on a facility that’s 45 years old, roughly, without trying to enhance it,” he said. “The new technology that’s out there [is going to] make it a lot more efficient and put less chemicals back into the system.”
