The legislative actions necessary to authorize and finance the Morgantown Utility Board’s Cheat Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion project will move through Morgantown City Council over the next two months or so.
On Tuesday, council moved a project ordinance and a bond ordinance tied to the work forward for first reading consideration during the body’s Sept. 3 meeting.
The bonds to finance the upgrades will be issued in two series — Series A not to exceed $45 million and Series B not to exceed $5 million.
The project, which will increase the plant’s capacity from 750,000 gallons to 1.75 million gallons per day, is currently estimated at $39,695,529 but the actual cost won’t be known until bids are opened Sept. 24.
Complicating matters is the fact that $6.75 million of project’s financing is coming via American Rescue Plan Act dollars in the form of an Economic Enhancement Grant from the West Virginia Water Development Authority.
Those dollars were spread all over the state and come with a hard deadline of Dec. 31 to get the project under contract.
“There are a lot of projects being bid through August, September, October. I believe there are around 50 projects – water and sewer – so, there’s going to be demand for contractors to cover all those projects,” bond counsel Tom Aman said. “Hopefully, you guys are favorably positioned in a way to get a good bid for the project.”
Either way, Cheat Lake wastewater customers are likely looking at rate increases ranging from 91% to 100% depending on what the bids look like.
The state uses 3,400 gallons as the average for measuring rate changes. With a 91% rate increase in place, a home producing 3,400 gallons of wastewater would see its monthly rate jump from $35.58 to $67.97.
This will be the first sewer rate increase for Cheat Lake customers since 2014.
As previously reported, the existing treatment facility is exceeding 90% of its designed capacity, and the number of customers connecting to it historically grows an average of 3.75% annually.
The facility will be expanded onto a 12.7-acre property behind the existing plant and between Sunset Beach Road and the Chestnut Ridge Church parking lot.
MUB General Manager Mike McNulty explained the plant is already exceeding permitted limits during heavy flows, meaning the expansion will either move forward through the current process or at a later date by state mandate.