HOLTS SUMMIT - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investing an additional $2,173,800 in Holts Summit's massive sewer project.
Previously, the amount of the USDA loan was set at $4,826,200 loan - now the city can count on $7 million. In addition to the USDA loans, the city has also received a $500,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Local cash will fund the remainder of the more than $8 million project.
City Administrator Hanna Lechner said once the loan is finalized, the city will be able to begin work.
Barring any delays, Holts Summit should be able to break ground by late July or early August. The city will then have 18 months to finish extending the collection system and connecting it to Jefferson City. Instead of flowing to the aging Holts Summit Wastewater Treatment Plant, untreated wastewater will run Jefferson City's system. Some of the city's sewage already does.
Once that is complete, a second project will connect Callaway Hills Elementary School to the system by April 2022. This project will be fully funded with $1 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, awarded by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The effort to update the sewer system, which has been plagued by delays, dates back to 2006.
"Part of it is the USDA and part of it is us," Lechner said, noting there has been personnel changes on both sides over the years.
In 2011, voters approved a $7 million bond issue - city officials expected to spend millions less on the project and included a bit of buffer in the total bonding capacity.
But costs have increased over the past decade, Lechner said. There is no remaining bond capacity for contingencies or future projects.
"We're going right into our threshold," Lechner said.
As a requirement for the USDA loan, the city will have to raise sewer rates. A public meeting to discuss the increase is scheduled for June 23. In August, rates will increase by $1.50 per 1,000 usage. In April 2021, the rates will increase by an additional $1.50.