The Tyrone Town Council put an issue behind them Thursday night by paying off the balance that provides an early retirement of the outstanding sewer loan with the City of Fairburn. The council also amended the sewer agreement with Fairburn pertaining to a recent rate increase.

Tyrone made an agreement with Fairburn several years ago to purchase a limited amount of sewer capacity from Fairburn for use with two John Wieland subdivisions, with Wieland customers paying the bill.

Though originally set to construct its own facility, Fairburn opted instead to continue to purchase sewer capacity from the Fulton County Camp Creek plant. Tyrone essentially purchases sewer capacity from Fulton with Fairburn as the pass-through provider.

Tyrone to date still owed $217,755 in principal and interest on the initial sewer loan agreement.

The council on the advice of Finance Director Penny Hunter voted to cash in a $217,618 Certificate of Deposit to pay off the loan.

Citing the rationale, Hunter explained that doing so would be a cost-saving measure since the CD is paying 1.45 percent interest while the sewer loan agreement comes with an interest rate of 6 percent.

Fairburn recently received a 15.06 percent sewer rate increase from Fulton County and passed an equivalent increase on to Tyrone. The charge went from $1.66 per 1,000 gallons to $1.91 and is effective with the October billing. The new rate for the few homes in Tyrone that use sewer will be $34.50 for 4,000 gallons, up from $30.