A deal that has been in the works for more than five years came to fruition Monday night as the Fayette County Board of Education decided to get out of the sewage treatment business.

The board signed an agreement with the town of Tyrone to provide sewer service to the three schools on Jenkins Road. The system will pay $750,000 to decommission the Jenkins Road treatment facility and build a pump station.

In return, the town agrees to allocate 45,000 gallons of capacity per day at the rate of $5 per 1,000 gallons. The town is also waiving any tap-on fees.

“We think we’ll recoup our capital investment in seven years,” said facilities director Mike Satterfield. “The existing plant is 16 years old and we haven’t had major capital expenses.”

Satterfield explained that Tyrone has pledged to have the sewer hook-up ready within six months, and the school system would like to have the pump station built and ready to operate when school starts next August.

Currently, the system budgets $150,000 per year for operational costs of the Jenkins Road facility and expects to save more than $100,000 per year by connecting to Tyrone’s sewer system.

The measure passed by a 4-0-1 margin, with board member Janet Smola recusing herself since her husband serves on the Tyrone Town Council.

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