By Barry Lewis, Assistant Publisher The Paper of Montgomery County
INDIANAPOLIS - Two Montgomery County towns are in line to receive help if the federal economic stimulus package is approved as passes by the U.S. House of Representatives.
According to the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA), Darlington and Ladoga are among a list of 12 Indiana communities that would be eligible for interest-free loans for wastewater and drinking water projects
The 12 projects that were deemed eligible total $36 million and ranging from a $320,000 wastewater treatment plant in Dugger to a nearly $10 million wastewater treatment plant in Peru are on the list. The Darlington project is set at $1.681 million for a wastewater treatment facility and Ladoga has applied for $948,000 for sewer rehab.
"That would be absolutely great news," Darlington Clerk-Treasurer Judy Anderson said. "We have already received a $500,000 grant from Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, but we still need a lot more. An interest-free loan for $1.5 million or more would save the town quite a bit of money."
Anderson said the town has to replace its wastewater treatment plant. That current plant was built in 1979 and is not working as it should.
"The state has mandated this and we need to do it for the town people," Anderson said. "IDEM has been on us for some issues and we just have to take care of them so if we could get this loan interest free it would be a great benefit to the town."
The Ladoga project is to help patch their sewer lines by a process called slip line. According to Ladoga Clerk-Treasurer Vicki Powers it is a process where a company will come in and clean out the lines and then use a process that will create and line within the existing sewer line. It is suppose to seal off the sewer line and keep excess water out. The process will also close off any old laterals making the system much more efficient.
"It will do wonders for our sewer treatment plant," Powers said.
Powers said she was informed in late January the town was on the list of the first to be in line for stimulus money. Should the money actually become available, Powers said the town will be shovel ready by April 1.
"Governor Daniels charged us to move as quickly as possible to put Hoosiers to work," Ryan Kitchell, Chairman of the IFA, said. "These projects are either ready to go or receiving final approvals. They will put Hoosiers to work now and build critical infrastructure that will help attract more jobs to these areas and improve public health through improved water quality."
The IFA notified the 12 communities to proceed with project bidding. If a federal stimulus bill passes and includes clean water funding for the state, these will be the first projects to receive 0 percent interest loans.
The United States House of Representatives recently passed a federal economic stimulus bill that includes approximately $140 million in wastewater and $28 million in drinking water funding for qualifying Indiana projects. The U.S. Senate is currently considering this bill. If the House-passed language were to become law, it would distribute these funds to the Indiana State Revolving Fund, an existing program managed by the IFA which makes loans to communities for wastewater and drinking water projects.
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