Will finance improvement projects including Huddleston Pond work

To help fund large-scale stormwater improvement projects, Peachtree City officials will issue bonds in the amount of $3.7 million.
The bonds will be financed over 20 years and will be repaid with revenues from the city’s stormwater utility, which bills property owners based on the amount of impervious surface on their land.

The funds will cover the city’s $3.57 million capital improvement plan for stormwater projects. The estimated cost of those projects range from $33,000 to reinforce bridge abutments where erosion has wiped away soil to $395,000 to build a new earthen dam and enlarge the size of Huddleston Pond.

Residential stormwater utility bills range between $32 and $72 a year depending on the size of the home. Commercial entities are billed monthly; Wal-Mart, for example, is paying $614 a month but the much smaller Ruby Tuesday restaurant is paying $43 a month.

This year’s budget for the stormwater program was $1.45 million. In addition to the capital projects, the program is also charged with conducting maintenance of the city’s stormwater facilities including drainpipes, inlets and outlets.

Also in the capital improvement budget is $500,000 to map the city’s drainage system and $112,000 to analyze and improve a culvert under Willowbend Road where a Peachtree City teen was killed in July 2005 while he was surfing on the water that had backed up in the area after a heavy downpour. Authorities said Danen Clarke was sucked under the water and into the spillpipe that travels under the road.

The bonds were authorized at the Aug. 19 City Council meeting. The closing is scheduled for May 10. They will be marketed by RBC Centura Bank, which had the lowest interest rate among bidders for the bond issue.

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