Washington County commissioners will consider a plan Monday night to issue as much as $75 million in capital notes to pay for flood recovery.
At least $55 million of that debt would go to pay for rebuilding roads and bridges and for relocating county services destroyed by the Sept. 27 flooding on the Nolichucky River.
Washington County Mayor Joe Grandy said another $20 million would go to “river mitigation†and stabilization projects to address issues created by Tropical Store Helene.
A Recovery Debt Plan
Consultants say the plan is to issue the infrastructure debt for a 10-year term, with the notes being retired once the county is reimbursed for its storm damages by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier this month, the county’s Budget Committee heard a presentation from Elizabeth Zuelke, a bond consultant with Raymond James, on a plan to pay for the repair of county infrastructure damaged by flooding from the storm. She said the state has committed to reimburse the county’s interest costs for the first three years of the debt.
Zuelke said amortizing the debt out 10 years gives the county more time to secure its federal reimbursements.
Under the reimbursement formula for its Public Assistance Program, FEMA will pay 75% of the cost for a disaster recovery project. State and local governments are responsible for the remaining 25% of the cost.
The state has agreed to to cover 20% of those costs, with Washington County and other local governments now contributing 5%.
Washington County is currently working on local flood recovery projects that total nearly 60 million. That includes nearly $6 million to build a new road to the Little Germany community.
There is also $12.5 million being allocated to rebuild damaged roads, $27 million to build a new Corby Bridge and at least $1.5 million to relocate a storm-damaged solid waste convenience center in Lamar.
Revise Animal Board Bylaws
In other business, commissioners are expected to vote Monday to amend the bylaws of the Washington County/ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ Animal Control Board that oversees the Animal Shelter.
Bob Wilson, the current president of the Animal Control Board, told members of the county’s Health, Education and Welfare Committee earlier this month that the proposed changes to the bylaws would directly specify that a city commissioner and a county commissioner will serve as members of the new board of directors.
He said that and other changes to the Animal Control Center’s bylaws have been discussed by his board for quite some time.
Under the current bylaws, the County Commission can appoint anyone from the community to serve as the county’s representative on the board. That’s in addition to the county mayor or his/her designee.
The proposed change would leave the mayor’s appointment unchanged, but would specify that a sitting county commissioner must be appointed to the board.
The same would apply to ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ, where the city manager or her/his designee would serve, along with a city commissioner.
Washington County commissioners will meet 6 p.m. Monday at the George P. Jaynes Justice Center in Jonesborough.
