After getting the particular estimates they wanted, Kosciusko County Commissioners approved submitting a petition for the formation of the Tippecanoe-Chapman regional sewer district at their meeting this morning.
The next step for the petition is county council approval; a vote will be taken at its meeting Thursday night. With the council’s approval, the petition will be submitted to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Ken Jones, of engineering firm Jones Petrie Rafinski, said there are 1,983 future connections, representing 2,360 residential equivalents. He said the current engineering study would have one grinder for two households, and the most cost-effective form of treatment would be to have the sewer district pump into the city of Warsaw’s system. The other two alternatives are to use the Lakeland Regional Sewer District’s treatment facility or to build a separate treatment facility of its own.
Jones said there would be the cost of remediation of old septic systems (estimated at $600 to $900 per system), and the cost of hooking up to the sewer would run $30 to $35 per foot.
Jeff Rowe of Umbaugh and Associates discussed the financial aspects of the preliminary report. He said at startup, sewer service would cost between $98 and $108 per month, and that grants could lower that to closer to $80 per month.
There are three sources of funding for the project; the two most common are the State Revolving Fund and U.S. Department of Agriculture programs. Open-market financing is also an option, but USDA programs can offer loan forgiveness to those who need it.
Chad Miner, county attorney, said the report estimated the cost of the project, depending on which of the three options is chosen, to be between $37.5 million and $39.5 million. Earlier estimates had the cost in the $40 million to $42 million range.
