Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon has proposed borrowing up to $515 million to pay for improvements to the Oak Orchard Wastewater Treatment Plant.  The improvements would be made in part to pave the way for Micron to build chip manufacturing plants in Clay.  If the Onondaga County Legi slature passes the proposal, it would set a record as the county’s biggest bond issuance ever. The second largest bond issuance was $128 million, for a project undertaken by the county in the 2000s and early 2010s to keep wastewater out of Onondaga Lake, said Comptroller Marty Masterpole.     “This upgrade is needed not only to have capacity, but also to update aging infrastructure,” said Deputy County Executive Cydney Johnson at a Nov. 18 Environmental Protection Committee meeting. The current plant is over 40 years old.  County legislators on Dec. 29 will vote whether to pass the item. Passing the item will require 12 yes votes, or two-thirds of county legislators, because the county would bond rather than pay for the project with its own money.  The treatment plant will be expanded and updated to accommodate residential and commercial growth in the area, including the planned Micron campus, said Johnson at the meeting.  The plant can currently accommodate around 6.7 million gallons of water each day. The expansion would increase its capacity to 15 million gallons each day, with a peak flow of around 25 million gallons.  The bonds would be paid for through the county’s sewer rates. Micron would be a “normal customer,” according to Johnson. It would pay for sewage based on units used at the facility.  During a Dec. 11 Ways and Means Committee meeting, a vote on the proposed improvements ended in a tie, with three Republicans voting in favor and three Democrats voting against the measure.  Legislator Dan Romeo said he would need more information to vote to bond for the cost to improve Oak Orchard. He has multiple times asked what the interest rates on the amount borrowed would be and when the county would need to start paying the money back. Romeo said that he feels the answers are not yet clear, although he plans to set up a meeting with the county executive’s administration to gain clarity.  Hernandez said that the answers to the questions could inform the Democratic caucus’ vote.  Committee Chair Colleen Gunnip said that she believed the legislators had “a lot of information distributed’ to them, while Legislator Brian May urged the committee not to make “a political vote.” Romeo is worried there will be a gap between the time that the county begins to pay back the cost of the bonds and the time that Micron begins paying into the sewer rates.  He wants to discuss ways to ensure there wasn’t a “disproportionate burden” on current users. He worried that taxpayers will essentially pay more for services they already receive.  “The County Executive has not proposed a 2027 budget yet — the idea that there will be a sewer unit rate increase is hypothetical, at best,” wrote Justin Sayles, the communications director for the county.  The sewer rate is calculated using many factors, which change over time, Sayles said. Factors include whether debt is paid, whether new debt is taken on, whether new projects or homes are built and operational expenses. Masterpole said there may be a gap between the time that the facility is being built and the time that Micron will begin operations, and that the gap would need to be paid for. But there are challenges to guessing what the total cost to the county will be.  “You’re asking them to hazard a guess — and that’s the word. It would be a hazard to them,” said Legislature Chairman Tim Burtis.  “When you’re asking for nitty gritty details on a very large project, it’s hard for those people to guess,” Burtis said.  If approved, the bonds will be sold in batches. The measure, to be voted on in a special session, would grant the county the ability to issue up to $515 million, though it could spend less than that.  Typically, the county issues bonds in June, said Masterpole. The interest rates would be determined at that time.  In 2025, the highest interest rate for Onondaga County bonds was 4.25% and the lowest was 3.2%, Masterpole said. The special legislative session comes just four days before the first meeting of the incoming legislature, when power over the legislature will flip from Republicans to Democrats. The resolution will not be on the previously planned final legislative session’s agenda due to an administrative error, Tim Burtis said. It would have required ten days’ notice, and was short one day.  “On a very, very large bond this size, something like that could be challenged, and challenged legally,” said Burtis.  The special meeting was scheduled with the agreement of the two party leaders in the legislature, legislators Brian May and Nodesia Hernandez, to get the resolution passed before the end of the year.  The first legislative session is usually devoted to organizational tasks such as choosing a new chair, Burtis said. If the resolution was delayed, it would likely be voted on  in February or even later, said Burtis.  “We’ve got to make improvements for our community,” said Burtis. “And if it’s not Micron, then it will be somebody else,” he added, while saying he had no doubt that Micron would come. The post Why Onondaga County legislators may approve the largest bond issuance in the county’s history appeared first on Central Current. ...read more read less