The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Public meeting scheduled for Wednesday to discuss eight options to repay $8.9 million loan
* Public meeting on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at Westmar Middle School
* Total repayment could be between $9.4 million and $12.9 million
* County accountant: 'There's no magic fix'

By The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
CUMBERLAND, Jan. 13 -- It could be pay now or pay later, but there is a debt of about $8.4 million that must be paid, Allegany County officials said Thursday while discussing options about how to repay the loan used to help build a new Georges Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

In July, 2,243 residents within the Georges Creek Sanitary District were notified on their property tax bills of the surcharge - which increased quarterly bills by up to 700 percent.

The new fees were not based on usage but a formula centered around the value of a homeowner's assessed property. Fee increases ranged between $200 and $1,000.

Paul Kahl, director of the Department of Public Works, and accountant Jason Bennett briefed the Allegany County commissioners during a public work session on Thursday about various options in which yearly fees could be decreased.

Some are good options, they said. And some are bad. All options are on the table and will be discussed in detail on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. during a public meeting at Westmar Middle School in Lonaconing.

Some options have residents paying less over a longer period of time - but more over the life of the loan. Of the eight options, four involve working within the current 20-year loan at 1.1 percent interest rate and four others involve refinancing the loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over a period of 40 years.

The expected life of the new treatment plant is about 20 years.

"There's no magic fix here," said county accountant Jason Bennett. "There's still a lot of debt to be paid. This is just different ways to look at it."

Commissioner Bill Valentine expressed concern about county residents paying on a system that was 20 years or so out of date. Commissioner Creade Brodie Jr. agreed.

"We need to get rid eof the debt service as quickly as we can," Brodie said.