Waynesville gets good news on sewer plant rebuild funding

Oct. 5—As the rebuild of Waynesville's sewer plant barrels along, town leaders have landed welcome news on the financial front.

The town was faced with a $5 million shortfall due to soaring costs of construction, steel and concrete. The price tag for the sewer plant rebuild is $25 million, but the town had secured only $20 million through a competitive no-interest state loan — a hard-fought process in and of itself.

To close the gap, the town simultaneously pursued a state grant and a $5 million increase on the no-interest loan. While both were initially rejected, the town kept lobbying.

"These grants are a little bit like fishing. You use the best bait you can and hope they bite," Town Manager Rob Hites said.

Now, a $5 million increase to the no-interest loan has been approved, at the same 26-year pay-off period as the original loan.

"It's an amazing deal," Hites said. "Normally, these are 19 year loans. They gave us an additional seven year amortization period which is very unusual."

The award saves the town from borrowing the shortfall on the private market to make up the difference, which in turn results in savings for sewer customers footing the bill for the sewer plant rebuild.

In more good news, the town is back in the running for the previously denied grant.

The grant hinges on whether Waynesville qualifies as a "distressed community." Waynesville leaders successfully lobbied for "distressed" status last year. After applying, however, Waynesville's distressed status was revoked due to a mix-up by the state, and the town's shot at the grant evaporated.

This summer, the mix-up was corrected and Waynesville was once again deemed "distressed," putting it back in the running for the funding. Waynesville has now resubmitted a $10 million application, though if awarded, it could come as a combination grant and loan.

"They could give us $5 million in grants and $5 million in loans. Or they could give us nothing. So we are somewhat at the mercy if we are funded at all, and whether it will be a grant or loan or some combination," Hites said.

If the funding comes through, the town will use $3 million to pay itself back for engineering and environmental permitting costs spent over and above the $25 construction contract.

The rest will be used to chip away at an ongoing effort to fix old sewer lines, Hites said.

As sewer lines age, cracks allow rainwater to seep in. Another problem is gutters and storm drains that dump into sewer lines, creating a surge in volume at the sewer plant during heavy rains. The problem was inherited by infrastructure practices decades ago.

The town has been systematically addressing the legacy inflow and infiltration issues, fixing about 1.5 miles of lines so far, but doing so is costly, Hites said.

"It is extremely expensive to separate sewer from rain water and rebuild old shattered sewer lines," Hites said.

Meanwhile, the town also received a $2 million grant from the state Community Development Block Grant to address inflow and infiltration.