CHATHAM – Members of the Chatham Village Board appear ready to commit to construction of a new water plant following a presentation Tuesday night about projected water rates for the South Sangamon Water Commission.
“I was very pleased,” said Trustee Chuck Herr, who chairs the village public works committee. “I’ve been dealing with this project for nine years, and I’ve watched us go back and cross our Ts and dot all our Is, and it really confirms what we said all along – that we could be competitive and that we can control our own destiny as we go into the future.
“I think we’ll have enough affirmative votes to pass it.”
Village trustees in New Berlin, Chatham’s partner in the project, are slated to vote tonight on whether to move forward with the plant. New Berlin Village President Steve Frank said he believes it will pass “overwhelmingly.”
Chatham is expected to vote March 23.
If both communities approve the project, construction of the treatment plant and transmission main could begin in May and the project could be completed as early as December 2011.
The plant is estimated to cost $24 million, which consultants say will result in an initial wholesale cost to the two villages of $4.65 to $4.80 per 1,000 gallons of water, depending on financing.
What the villages end up charging customers has yet to be determined. The initial rate is expected to increase by about 1 percent each year.
Chatham Village Board members appeared satisfied with answers they received about questions raised by officials of Springfield’s City Water, Light and Power earlier this week. Chatham currently buys water from CWLP.
On Monday, CWLP finance director Craig Burns, who attended last week’s presentation to the New Berlin Village Board, said a consultant there had indicated that level debt service for the water plant project would require charging $8 to $9 per 1,000 gallons over 30 years.
Chatham Planning Coordinator Mike Williamsen told Chatham trustees Tuesday he came up with that figure as a guess when someone asked about the commission charging a level rate instead of one that increases over time.
Consultants at Edward Jones, however, determined that a level rate actually would be $5.90 per 1,000 gallons of water.
Chatham’s rates from CWLP currently go up an average of 3 percent per year, so Williamsen said Chatham should save money in the long run.
Herr said he supports structuring the water commission rate to increase over a 30-year period.
“We can keep the rate low at the beginning, because we’re actually loading the debt later as the revenues begin to grow and you pay it off. It’s a very common accounting practice,” Herr said.
Trustee Joe Schatteman also said that the village is pursuing grants to build the water plant, which could lower the rate.
Amanda Reavy can be reached at 788-1525.
CWLP offers water sale to commission
City Water, Light and Power Water officials said Tuesday they’re willing to discuss the possibility of selling water to the South Sangamon Water Commission, as opposed to the commission building its own water plant.
CWLP water division director Tom Skelly sent an email to commission attorney John Myers, suggesting a contract could be patterned after a draft proposal the utility offered to Chatham in September.
Village officials say they rejected the draft offer during a public meeting last year.
The 50-year proposal would remove a boundary line provision that exists under the village’s current contract with CWLP and provide 4 million gallons of water per day to the village (a 33 percent increase in capacity) at an initial rate of $4.639 per 1,000 gallons.
Under the proposal, Chatham would be charged an “outside city” rate, which is 30 percent higher than the “inside city” rate. CWLP officials say the outside city rate changes only if the city council approves an increase on the inside city rate.
New Berlin, as a partner in the water commission, would be included in the offer.
Chatham village manager Del McCord, the village’s representative on the commission, said CWLP’s offer will be shared with the other commissioners, William Pfeffer of New Berlin and Sangamon County Board member Craig Hall.
“We’ll talk about it and decide what offers we’ll entertain,” McCord said.
What’s next
The New Berlin Village Board is expected to vote at 7 p.m. today on whether to build the plant. The Chatham board is expected to vote on the issue March 23.
If both communities approve, materials would be ordered and construction of the treatment plant and transmission main could begin in May.
Completion of the project would be slated for December 2011.
On the Web
Read the proposed water agreement between New Berlin and the South Sangamon Water Commission: http://extras.sj-r.com/pdfs/03162010newberlinwater.pdf
South Sangamon Water Commission plans
The plant is to be built on Buckhart Road east of Rochester. It would use water from wells fed by an aquifer roughly 50 feet deep along the Sangamon River floodplain.
Finished water quality would be similar to that provided by Springfield’s City Water, Light and Power and would meet Environmental Protection Agency standards. Small particles would be taken out by “nano-filtration” units. Water would be softened to levels similar to CWLP water, but with ion exchange softening.
An 18-inch transmission main would carry water from the treatment plant to Chatham and then through a 10-inch main to New Berlin.
Source: Consultants’ presentation to New Berlin and Chatham village boards
Read the original article from The State Journal-Register.
