Treatment plant serving Glen Ellyn, Lombard wants loan to make repairs
A wastewater treatment plant serving Glen Ellyn and Lombard hopes to secure a $16.72 million loan both towns would repay over 20 years to finance a project to replace aging and obsolete equipment at the facility on Bemis Road.
In a 6-0 vote Monday night, Glen Ellyn trustees approved a measure in support of the loan and pledging to cover the village's share of principal and interest payments on the debt.
The Lombard village board has already passed the same ordinance, a requirement of the loan program administered by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Glen Ellyn expects to contribute about 45 percent of the borrowing costs — roughly $433,000 annually over the 20 years — while Lombard would kick in 55 percent. The total debt payments should add up to about $961,676 a year.
A fixed interest rate on the $16,725,000 loan would not exceed 1.86 percent.
But financial planners anticipate a 1.75 percent rate.
The funding to pay off the debt would come from revenue generated by fees on sewer bills collected by each village and then paid to the authority.
Late last year, Glen Ellyn trustees agreed to keep water and sewer rates unchanged in 2016.
They also planned to revisit next year's rates as the village develops a decadelong plan to improve infrastructure such as streets, water mains and sewer lines.
The authority's plant dates to 1977 and treats sewage and wastewater for each town. A committee overseeing operations includes both village presidents, village managers, public work directors and two trustees from each village board.
The loan would fully fund the proposed project to update technology, install energy-efficient pumps that would replace outdated ones and make fixes to heating and ventilating systems, among other upgrades and repairs at the facility, spread across about 20 buildings at 21W551 Bemis Road.
“We'd also be able to handle more water during peak flows, and there's a savings associated with that as well,” Village Manager Mark Franz told Glen Ellyn trustees.
The work could take about a year, and the plant would remain “fully functional” throughout the duration of the project, Glen Ellyn Public Works Director Julius Hansen said.
“The plant is going to work much more efficiently with this project,” Hansen said.
Under a joint agreement, both villages pays a fixed 25 percent of capital improvement costs, while Glen Ellyn and Lombard split the other 50 percent based on the amount of wastewater flow that funnels into the facility from each town.