Burlington reports $13 million wastewater financing package; construction award pending

Burlington reports a $13 million state-financing package for a planned wastewater treatment facility, but the listed components total $14.5 million and the construction award remains pending.

A report prepared for the Burlington City Council’s Aug. 31 meeting lists $4.5 million in direct lending, $1.5 million in principal forgiveness and an $8.5 million leveraged loan. The report does not explain whether the principal-forgiveness amount is included in the direct-loan figure or is additional financing. The Aug. 31 agenda packet describes the financing, grant status and project schedule.

The direct loan is described as available once construction begins, with a 20-year term and 2.5% interest. The leveraged loan is described as a 20-year loan at 4% interest that could become available in November if bonding is secured. Burlington previously reported closing Aug. 5 on a $4.5 million construction loan and a $300,000 design-and-engineering loan whose principal would be fully forgivable for eligible work, the city administrator’s report in the Aug. 10 City Council agenda packet says.

The city also reported receiving notice of a $382,486 award from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Energy and Mineral Impact Assistance Fund. The grant contract had not been executed when the report was prepared, and city staff were preparing documents with the goal of completing it by the end of August. State funds spent before execution would not be eligible for reimbursement, the report says.

Burlington was also pursuing a $700,000 Community Project Funding request and a possible $3 million Congressional Directed Spending appropriation. Neither had been awarded, and any approved federal funds would not be available until 2027, according to the report.

The packet does not establish that Burlington completed its construction-manager-at-risk selection or awarded the construction contract. It says two CMAR finalists were interviewed April 15 and that the City Council was scheduled to consider a design award April 27, but gives no result for that action. The August schedule lists the construction CMAR award as “Awaiting State Award” and construction commencement as “ASAP.” The report says the construction award could not be made until the signed DOLA grant was received.

The project would replace Burlington’s evaporative lagoon system with a mechanical facility using a sequential batch reactor. The available records do not provide a construction-award amount, notice to proceed, evidence that construction has begun or a final project budget.