News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The state granted McMinnville a $5.7 million loan to improve the city’s water infrastructure.
The loan comes from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program. McMinnville Water and Wastewater Director Ricky Morton said the city’s water treatment plant needed long overdue improvements.
“Well, our current facility was built in 1960,” Morton said. “And there is a lot of just interior needs updating, pipe gallery, all of that. Basically, the whole building needs attention.”
The city plans to use the loan to build a new water plant facility behind the current one. Morton said the state is only requiring the city to pay back $2.85 million of the loan.
“It’s good for McMinnville because it updates our filters, our controls,” Morton said. “It’s going to set a water plant in McMinnville for hundreds of years to come. It sets McMinnville up to have a state-of-the-art facility.”
The loan is a 20-year term at 1.28 percent interest. Morton said the city passed a water rate increase beforehand to help pay for the loan.
“What we did prior to getting this loan SRF had recommended I think a 3.23 percent rate increase to pay for this,” Morton said. “We passed a five percent and the reason we did that was because we don’t know where the bids are going to land. It could be more than the projected amount.”
Morton said the next step in the process is waiting for final documentation from SRF. Once they get the documentation the city will have to bid out the project and get approval from the city’s board of directors. Morton said he is hoping to have approval by the end of the year and estimates the project would take anywhere from 18-24 months.
