News

LANSING – State Representative Mike Simpson (D-Jackson) joined Leoni Township Supervisor Kip Ballast and officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Monday to announce plans for a wastewater conveyance and treatment facility in Leoni Township. The facility will improve water quality and enable the township to reduce phosphorus loading to surface water by utilizing new technology.

"I'm so pleased to announce this much-needed sewer project," Ballast said. "Mike was able to bring all parties together and move this project forward. It was a long and arduous process, but it paid off -- and that's great news for our community and all the communities this sewer system serves."

Simpson said that the project will result in a major sewer upgrade able to better handle the demands of the growing community, and it also will bring more than 200 jobs -- about 100 direct jobs and 100 spin-off jobs -- to the area.

For months, township officials worked with the DEQ to move the sewer project forward. Leoni Township officials asked Simpson to step in and assist in May, 2007. The township was pursuing funding for the sewer upgrade through the State Revolving Fund (SRF), administered by the DEQ, which provides low-interest loans to municipalities. (The SRF loan offered an interest rate of approximately 2.4 percent, compared to the 5.25 percent that the township would have gotten on the open market). Late in 2007, Leoni officials were notified that the project qualified for loan assistance from the SRF.

"On the estimated $34 million loan, the lower interest rate will result in a taxpayer savings of over $21 million," Simpson said. "This project is an example of how intergovernmental cooperation is supposed to work for the benefit of the taxpayers."

DEQ staff will work closely with the township to navigate the complexities of the project and its funding. Pursuing the SRF funding has made the township eligible to receive a $1 million grant to offset the planning and design costs that otherwise wouldn't have been given, further reducing the price of the project. Construction is expected to begin within 60 days of the projected loan closing in September, 2008.