ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Finance Director/Comptroller with a Request for the Following (All Council Districts):
A. ADOPT an ORDINANCE Authorizing the City of Peoria to BORROW FUNDS from the ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (IEPA) STATE REVOLVING FUND (SRF) Loan Program; and
B. AUTHORIZE the City Manager to Sign and Submit LOAN APPLICATION Forms, Tax Compliance Certificate and AGREEMENT, and Supporting Documents for the IEPA Loan Program.
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BACKGROUND: On December 15, 2020, the City Council approved a Consent Decree with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the IEPA to remediate Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). This mandate requires capital investments of approximately $109 million over an eighteen (18) year time frame, beginning in 2022, to remediate CSO (ref. item 20-303).
On May 11, 2021, the City Council approved sewer rates to fund the first five (5) years of the CSO program loan payments (ref. item 21-039).
The City has applied for pre-approval to the IEPA loan program. This program provides low interest (currently 1.4%) loans to municipalities for wastewater and stormwater projects, such as the CSO control program.
The proposed Ordinance will authorize the City to borrow funds from the IEPA loan program to cover the first five (5) years of projects in the eighteen (18) year CSO control program. The loan application, if approved, will fund CSO improvements for the first year of projects. Loan applications will be completed annually through the first five (5) years covered by the proposed Ordinance.
The IEPA loan program is competitive. Submitting the loan application as soon as possible will strengthen the City's position to receive funding.
All owners of properties in the City limits, indirectly or directly connected to public combined or sanitary sewers, would pay the proposed CSO remediation district fees to repay the IEPA loan.
The attached CSO Fact Sheet, ordina...
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