OKLAHOMA CITY – Southwest Oklahoma communities have received badly needed financial assistance from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board recently.
For example, the board on Tuesday approved a 30.5-year, low-interest $11.1 million loan to the Hobart Public Works Authority.
According to the town’s application, the funds will be used to:
- rehabilitate the water treatment plant and water storage facilities.
- rehabilitate the water intake structure and spillway at Rocky Lake, which is 9½ miles from Hobart near the community of Rocky, in Washita County. Rocky Lake encompasses 340 surface acres and its normal capacity of 4,210 acre-feet (1.3 billion gallons). The lake is a source of water for Hobart, Clinton and Cordell.
- remove trees and sediment from Rocky Lake and from Hunter Lake, a 12-acre reservoir less than a mile from Hobart;
- refinance 2015 and 2017 bank notes that were used to finance previous renovation projects at Rocky Lake.
The State4 Loan Program revenue bond loan will be secured with a lien on Hobart’s water, sewer and sanitation systems, a 3-cent sales tax, and perhaps a mortgage on the city’s water and sewer systems, said Joe Freeman, chief of the Water Board’s Financial Assistance Division.
Hobart has one outstanding loan with the OWRB, Freeman said. The city has a debt coverage ratio of 3.2, he said, which means Hobart has three times as much revenue as needed to cover that debt.
Medicine Park received a $23,453 emergency grant in April to reimburse the town for damage its water system incurred during the winter storm in February. The sub-freezing temperatures caused several lines to separate at their joints, water lines broke, and two pumps failed.
At one point during the storm, “All of our residents were left without water,” said Yolanda Ramos, Medicine Park’s treasurer and deputy town clerk. “It took several days and volunteer time and equipment to get the town up and running again,” Medicine Park officials informed the Water Board.
Repairs to the infrastructure were performed by a contractor with assistance from a city employee, and totaled $27,592. “We did not budget for these huge financial obligations and expenses,” Ms. Ramos wrote. The OWRB grant covered 85% of the bills, while the town paid $2,146 from local funds and provided $1,993 in in-kind labor, Freeman said.
The emergency grant saved the town’s utility customers $38,000 in principal and interest charges by not having to borrow money on the open market to pay for the water system’s repairs, Freeman calculated.
Gotebo’s Public Works Authority received a $99,250 Rural Economic Action Plan grant from the OWRB in March. The REAP grant will be used to replace the aged water lines and pay for installation of fire hydrants, Freeman said.
The Kiowa County town has an aging water system which includes 4-inch-diameter sand-cast lines that have deteriorated “and are in need of repair,” he said.
The grant will save the town’s water customers almost $127,000 in principal and interest charges by not having to borrow the funds, Freeman calculated.
The OWRB has approved more than $5.1 billion in loans and grants for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements throughout Oklahoma since 1983, ledgers reflect.