Some $5 Million Loan Needed For Water Plant

Cookeville City Council will vote Thursday night to provide financing for the increased construction costs of its water plant expansion.

Water Quality Control Director Barry Turner said the department wants to borrow up to an additional $5.5 million for the project. He said that after the department was approved for a loan in 2022, inflation pushed the price for materials and construction well beyond what was borrowed.

“When we did the original application for money, we asked for $17.5 million,” Turner said. “$16 million of that was for construction, $1.5 million was for engineering and inspection, and that was about the time that everything just took off.”

Turner said rather than the $16 million expected for construction, the final amount could be closer to $25 million. He said the new project loan would be on a 20-year fixed term with a 1.8 percent interest rate.

“We bid it sort of as it was going up,” Turner said. “If we’d waited much longer, it would have been much higher than what we got.”

He said the estimated shortage is based on bids and additional engineering that has already been approved. He said a change order is expected, but does not have exact numbers figured yet.