Explanation
1. BACKGROUND
Need: The Ohio EPA requires this legislation which authorizes the Director of Public Utilities to execute a WPCLF loan agreement totaling approximately $5.2 million, for construction of the Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant Skimmings Concentrator System Improvements Project, CIP No. 650255, under the direction of the Sewerage & Drainage Division. This Capital Improvements Project is being financed through the Ohio Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF). This loan program is jointly administered by the Ohio EPA's Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance, and the Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA). The WPCLF provides below-market interest rate loans for municipal wastewater treatment improvements.
2. FISCAL IMPACT
Budgeted Amount: There is sufficient budget authority in the 2007 Sewer System Operating Fund for application fee expenditures. These loans will be paid off over a 20-year period from sewerage system fees (dedicated source of repayment) . Sewerage fee increases have been projected and planned in anticipation of these projects and loans.
Title
To authorize the Director of Public Utilities to apply for, accept, and enter into a Water Pollution Control Loan Fund Agreement with the Ohio Water Development Authority and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for the construction of sewerage system wastewater treatment facilities; and to designate a dedicated repayment source for the loan and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, the Department of Public Utilities is preparing a loan application for submittal to the Ohio EPA under the Ohio Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) program to finance the construction of the Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant Skimmings Concentrator System Improvements project, which financial assistance will be of help in reducing total project costs to the City's sewerage customers; and
WHEREAS, the WPCLF loan application and loan agreement documents require the City to submit to the Ohio EPA a certified copy of the approved City Council legislation which authorizes the Director of the Public Utilities Department to apply for and subsequently execute the WPCLF agreement; and Now, Therefore
Section 1. That the Director of Public Utilities be, and hereby is, authorized to apply for, accept, and enter into a Water Pollution Control Loan Fund Agreement with the Ohio Water Development Authority and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for the construction of the Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant Skimmings Concentrator System Improvements Project, CIP No. 650255, Construction Contract J209, WPCLF No. CS302465-01, with estimated construction costs of $5.2 million.
Section 2. That Sewerage System Service Charges is hereby authorized to be the dedicated source of repayment for the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund Agreement.
Section 3. That this ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.