Greene County leaders outline wastewater plant, TIF and sewer expansion tied to Prometheus project

Greene County elected officials and council members met in a special session to discuss a 5- to 10-year infrastructure and economic-development strategy focused on the Prometheus site and the Westgate area.

County leaders said the county expects Prometheus to be an anchor for additional investment and that expanding sewer service, enlarging a tax-increment financing (TIF) allocation area and building a new wastewater treatment plant are central to enabling the project and related private development.

Officials described a plan to create a second dedicated TIF allocation area covering roughly the Prometheus munitions campus (about 1,100 acres) and an expanded corridor of developable ground from Olive Branch Road to Antioch Road and from State Road 231 east to Stone Road. The county said base property tax revenue would remain with Greene County; tax increases from new development would be captured by the TIF. The redevelopment commission committed to returning 80% of that incremental revenue to Prometheus as an incentive; the transcript records that 53,000,000 (fifty-three million) dollars was the prior estimate of returns to Prometheus over 25 years and another 13,000,000 (thirteen million) would remain with the redevelopment commission, though speakers cautioned those figures were calculated before recent changes to personal property tax rules.

Officials also described plans to expand the sewer district to encompass all of Taylor Township that is not already in the district. County staffoutlined options discussed with prospective private investors for running lines and lift stations to serve Love's (a travel center already in the area), Prometheus and other developments. Speakers said Love's and Prometheus have proposed to fund much of the infrastructure work — including a lift station and pipeline segments — and the county's sewer district would assume ownership and operation of the lines rather than private owners maintaining them.

A new regional wastewater treatment plant, to be sited in neighboring Davis County but owned by Greene County and operated by the regional sewage district, was estimated at approximately $12,000,000. Officials said they do not plan to contribute county bond or general-fund money for the plant and are pursuing federal funding and partner contributions; one speaker reported having discussed federal support with Congressman Messmer. The county does not plan to borrow for the plant and expects other entities and federal grants to cover costs.

Speakers emphasized scheduling and phasing to avoid large single-year funding shortfalls. They said the Harvest Church Road connector into Prometheus and other required infrastructure would be scheduled across overlapping years. Speakers described negotiating approaches for developer-funded sewer lines (different technical approaches were being evaluated), and said Love's has asked about recovering some private investment if other businesses or residences connect to lines they finance; no promises were recorded.

Officials said the county is aiming to avoid bonding for the courthouse exterior renovation and other projects where possible; they noted a bond payment will end next year and free up roughly $1 million in the county budget, but they emphasized no formal decisions were recorded on redirecting that money.

County staff said plan commission action and formal allocation-area designation will be required before a second TIF district can proceed; they noted difficulty in scheduling plan commission quorum meetings may delay submission until November. The county said the sewer-district expansion and TIF work may be submitted to the commissioners jointly with the Taylor Township trustee at a future meeting.

Less technical topics raised in the meeting included road maintenance funding, broadband gaps and the location and timing of highway garage projects; speakers said those remain priorities but are secondary to wastewater, sewer and site-preparation needs for Prometheus and the Westgate corridor.

Ending: County leaders said they will continue to pursue federal and developer funding for the treatment plant and TIF expansion, return to the plan commission and commissioners when allocation-area design and sewer-district details are ready, and seek community and agency coordination to phase infrastructure so the county avoids borrowing for the work.