By By MICHELE GERLACH Publisher
Brewton residents could be assessed as much as $39 per month per customer if the city floated an $18 million bond issue with which to make repairs to and extend the existing sewerage system.
Residents of the Alexander Heights and West Alexander areas recently petitioned the council to move forward with the installation of sewerage lines in the two neighborhoods. Other neighborhoods would like the same consideration if the council began expanding lines.
Brewton Mayor Ted Jennings provided members of the city council with a cost analysis for proposed projects at Tuesday night's meeting.
Jennings reported that if the city floated a bond issue to fund all of the sewerage projects discussed in recent weeks, the city could expect to pay as much as $78,000 per year for every million dollars borrowed in a 20-year bond issue. For a 30-year bond, the city's cost would be $66,000 per million dollars borrowed per year.
If the city chose to fund the project with a 25-year bond issue, the estimated cost would be $35.50 per month per customer. For a 30-year bond issue, the estimated cost would be $33 per month per customer.
Councilman Mervin Huff said he would prefer that the city break sewerage improvements into smaller projects.
Councilman Dennis Dunaway asked for a project-by-project breakdown on the estimated costs. Jennings told him that analysis would have taken an additional two to three months and cost the city $10,000 to $12,000.
Repairs to existing lines would cost $4.7 million, Jennings said.
Council members unanimously agreed to consider the issue further after getting feedback from residents.