Dodge City pays off loan early, now debt free
Oct. 15—DODGE CITY — The Dodge City town council celebrated being free of debt by burning the note on its $400,000 loan that it managed to pay off 21 years early.
The United States Department of Agriculture loan was taken out to update the town's sewage system and was due to be paid off in 2040. Instead, the town made it's last payment of $2,042 in July.
Mayor Twana Canada lit the note on fire and dumped it into a waiting bucket. Then she thanked all of those who helped make the upgrades and early pay off happen.
"There's no way we could have pulled this off without you," she told the town council.
Grady Parson with Living Water Services, a utility contractor for Dodge City and other Cullman County municipalities, said what the town has accomplished in paying off its loan early is very rare.
"What you've accomplished is very, very unusual," he said. He congratulated the town leaders and noted, "You have a system now that has a lot of additional capacity and growth for Dodge City."
He later told The Times that the sewage system has the capacity to handle 300,000 gallons per day, far more than its currently treating.
County Commissioner Garry Marchman joked that town leaders would be useful in Washington, D.C., to show them how to manage money, and then added, "It's rare to see a town this size do something like this."
According to the Alabama Water and Wastewater Rate Dashboard, Dodge City's $25 per 1,000 gallons rate is slightly above the median rate among all Alabama systems of $19 per 1,000 gallons. Dodge City, like Cullman and Good Hope, has a half cent sales tax and benefits from its proximity to I-65 which draws travelers stopping for gas and food.
