New Bedford City Council approves multimillion-dollar water and sewer loan orders; budget transfers and reappointments pass unanimously

The New Bedford City Council on Wednesday night unanimously adopted two loan orders totaling $70,300,000 to fund water distribution, treatment and wastewater system improvements, approved two enterprise-fund budget transfers, and confirmed two mayoral reappointments during a special meeting called to act on items that had been tabled at previous meetings.

The council moved first on two loan orders that had been tabled. One loan order would appropriate $38,100,000 for capital planning and construction of water distribution and treatment system improvements, including a lead service abatement program, transmission-main inspection program and general system improvements. The second would appropriate $32,200,000 for projects in the city's long-term CSO (combined sewer overflow) control and integrated capital improvement plan, including wastewater collection system and pumping-station improvements, flood-control structure improvements, water-quality improvements and CSO abatement.

Why it matters: The loan orders are intended to finance capital projects intended to address aging infrastructure and regulatory obligations tied to wastewater and stormwater systems. Councilors voted to remove the items from the table and adopt…