Explanation
1. BACKGROUND: The Ohio EPA requires this legislation which authorizes the Director of Public Utilities to apply for and execute up to nineteen (19) Ohio Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) loan agreements totaling approximately $152 million, for construction of nineteen Sanitary and Treatment Engineering Capital Improvement Projects as identified in Section 1., under the direction of the Division of Sewerage and Drainage (DOSD). 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 Loan Fund program provides below-market interest rate loans for municipal wastewater treatment improvements.
2. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION: WPCLF loan applications are now being processed for some of these projects. This authorizing legislation is a requirement for loan approval and must be submitted to the Ohio EPA as a part of each loan application prior to consideration by the Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA) board for loan award. For the purpose of keeping projects on schedule, therefore, emergency designation is requested.
3. FISCAL IMPACT: There is sufficient budget authority in the 2016 Sewer Systems Operating Funds for the loan application fee expenditures. These loans will be paid off over a 20-year period from sewerage system fees (dedicated source of repayment). Sewerage system 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 up to nineteen (19) Ohio Water Pollution Control Loan Fund Agreements with the Ohio Water Development Authority and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, for the financing of up to nineteen Division of Sewerage and Drainage Division (DOSD) construction projects; to designate a dedicated source of repayment for the loans; and to declare an emergency.
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