Twenty-one Georgia communities, including three in northeast Georgia, have been awarded financing totaling $84.7 million for water, wastewater, and sewer infrastructure improvements. The loans were recently approved by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority board of directors.
Blairsville is getting $800,000, Blue Ridge $387,000, and Ellijay-Gilmer County $1.9 million.
“Low-interest financing from GEFA helps communities throughout the state. (These projects) demonstrate that GEFA is investing in communities that are willing to invest in themselves,” said the Chairman of the GEFA Board of Directors and White County Commission Chairman Travis Turner.
Blairsville will use its loan to finance the installation of a grit removal system at the headworks of the wastewater treatment facility. The city will pay 1.06 percent interest on the 10-year loan, which includes principal forgiveness up to $160,000.
The money Blue Ridge is getting will finance replacing manual-read water meters with an automatic meter reading system and installing advanced metering infrastructure. The city will pay 1.25 percent interest on the 20-year loan.
The loan to the Ellijay-Gilmer County Water Sewer Authority will finance the rehabilitation of a water storage tank, the construction of a new water storage tank, and the upgrading of a pump station. The county will pay 2.25 percent interest on the 20-year loan, which includes principal forgiveness up to $383,400.
There is more about this latest round of loans on the GEFA website.
