new water plant

When the Cottonwood Shores City Council meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, they will have all thier financial ducks in a row to consider issuing $1.5 million in certificates of obligation for a new water plant.

Anticipating action on Dec. 1, the council will meet with Bill Blitch of Blitch Associates, Inc., a financial advisory firm, working primarily in the utility industry, assisting in funding bond sales .

No citizens came to address the council on Thursday, Sept. 29. Members are hoping that is because they understand the council's financial strategy to pay for water plant replacement.

The only items on the agenda were approval of the budget the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 and the tax rate to support it, a rate voters could legally oppose, if they did not understand the council's analysis.

By Glynis Crawford Smith/The Highlander

The Cottonwood Shores City Council on Thursday, June 16, approved the steps it has been planning to bring a new $1.83 million water plant project online.

“This is the largest and most important financial obligation the council will make,” said Mayor Donald Orr. “The (current) plant produces good water but it is extremely labor intensive.”

The proposed Pall Membrane plant would boost production to a potential half-million gallons of water per day, at least double the capacity of the current 2975 water plant.

“In addition we will have 135,000 gallons per day storage,” said Orr.

The council will seek a $1.83 million loan from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), offset by a $275,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), federal money they will seek through the Texas Department of Agriculture.