Moody's Investor Services gave DeKalb County some good news Wednesday -- a favorable bond rating for the $412 million it plans to borrow to start upgrading its water-sewer system.
The move means residents could end up paying less in interest than the county expected when it raised water and sewer rates last year to pay for a $1.35 billion overhaul to the system. The rate increase should cover most of the borrowing.
“We think this is a pat on the back for DeKalb County,” CEO Burrell Ellis said. “This certainly allows us to continue upgrading our water and sewer system as we planned, with no additional cost to taxpayers.”
Just days before DeKalb raised utility rates last December, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered the county to make $700 million in fixes to its 50-year-old sewer system.
The rest of the bill will go for improvements to the slightly newer water system.
Moody’s assigned an Aa3 rating to the first part of that borrowing, a signal to investors that there is very little risk to the offering.
County finance director Joel Gottlieb said DeKalb expects to offer the bonds in the next month. That would mean some of the needed work -- such as hiring engineers and finalizing designs -- should by done by year’s end.
Dirt could turn for installing new sewer lines and water pipes by early next year.
“We want to make sure we get the projects done in a timely manner,” Gottlieb said.
Under the consent decree signed with the EPA, DeKalb has eight years to finish its overhaul once a federal judge signs off on the deal.
No judge has yet acted on the decree, but many residents are eager to see work begin anyway.
DeKalb reported more than 830 sewer spills between 2005 and 2010. Discharges of raw sewage have continued to be a weekly, sometimes daily, occurrence this year.
Six DeKalb environmental groups joined forces earlier this year to ask the EPA for stricter penalties for such spills in a bid for faster clean-up of waterways such as the South River, Snapfinger Creek and the South Fork of Peachtree Creek near Emory University.
Activists are still looking for more public outreach, such as education sessions about the fats, oil and grease that often clog sewer lines and lead to the spills, said David Deganian, a staff attorney with one of the groups, GreenLaw.
“It would be to DeKalb County’s benefit to jump on this as quickly as it can,” Deganian said. “You can see signs all over the county saying, ‘Do Not Swim,’ ‘Do Not Fish.’ That doesn’t bode well for anybody.”
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