GEFA Repayment Modification Plan for Royston Wastewater Treatment Upgrade Approved

Now that the newly renovated water/wastewater treatment plant in Royston is officially up and running, City Council members approved a second modification of the loan that helped pay for the project.

At their regular meeting Tuesday evening, the only item of new business on the agenda was for the Council to vote to approve the modification.

Royston borrowed $2.6 million from the Georgia Economic Finance Authority in November 2017.

However, City Manager Ed Andrews told the Council the agreement had to be modified because of changes to the construction deadline.

“The only reason the modification was made was we moved the end construction date to October 1, which pushed out our amortization to February 2020, but our Finance Committee budgeted for our repayment to start in October. So, we’ll be ahead of the game in our repayments,” Andrews said.

In 2017, the EPD approved a plan to upgrade the plant that enables the City to handle new customers and future needs for the next 25-30 years, according to Andrews.

The City was then awarded a Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan worth $2-million from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority to help pay for the project.

Royston will have 20 years to pay back the low-interest loan.