Nearly six years after identifying a list of significant, yet pricey, capital improvement projects at the South County Regional Wastewater treatment plant, the City of Morgan Hill will be able to spend $7.9 million for its share of the improvements.
The money will come from unspent Redevelopment Agency bond proceeds acquired by the RDA in 2008, according to a City staff report. The expenditure will exhaust the balance of bond proceeds remaining in the City’s sewer impact fund.
The funds were tied up for more than a year in litigation until recently, when the state Department of Finance and Santa Clara County settled with the City, freeing up the money for its original purposes, the City staff report says.
When the city acquired about $100 million in bond proceeds in 2008, it dedicated about $14 million to capital projects at the sewer plant in Gilroy, according to City staff. About $6.1 million of that has been spent, and the expenditure of $7.9 million represents the rest of the City’s dedicated share of the improvement costs.
The expense was submitted to the City Council for approval Wednesday, as part of the meeting’s consent agenda.
On Sept. 25, the Council approved the expense of about $1.6 million for sewer plant upgrades, also from the 2008 RDA bond proceeds.
The sewer plant in Gilroy is run by the South County Regional Wastewater Authority, which includes representatives of the cities of Gilroy and Morgan Hill, as well as the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Morgan Hill’s share of the costs for capital projects at the SCRWA treatment plant is 42 percent, in accordance with the “joint powers” agreement established with the SCRWA was created in 1992, according to City staff.
Specific projects at the treatment plant that will be funded by the $7.9 million include fiberoptics upgrades, replacement of a generator, aeration system improvements and other upgrades, according to the City staff report.
