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Monte Vista faces $49.8 million wastewater plant shortfall; council eyes grants, loans and congressional help
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Summary
City manager told the Monte Vista City Council that two construction bids for a new wastewater treatment plant came in at about $49.8M and $52.0M while current funding totals $30M; council and staff outlined next steps including USDA talks, state loans, bond counsel engagement and a meeting with Congressman Hurd.
Monte Vista’s city manager told the City Council that two bids submitted for a long-planned wastewater treatment plant towered over available funding, setting up a months‑long process to find additional grants and loans.
“We had two bids that came. The low bid was $49,752,000. The other bid was $52,000,616,” City manager (S6) said, adding that the city currently has about $30,000,000 set aside for the project. He said the city must now decide which alternatives in the plans can be scaled back, phased or postponed.
The gap means staff will pursue multiple parallel strategies, S6 said: seek additional grant or loan support from USDA Rural Development (which is already a funding partner), pursue state revolving loan funds if USDA cannot provide more, engage bond counsel for construction loan planning with CoBank, and press for congressional directed funding. “We asked $3,000,000 from the senate. We asked for $2,000,000 from the house,” S6 said, describing those requests as part of the city’s outreach.
Why it matters: the bids exceed the committed funding by roughly $20 million, which will affect ratepayers if the council elects to bond for the project or to phase work. S6 said engineers recommended prioritizing environmental cleanup and biosolids removal for any available targeted funding, then phasing other components.
Council members pressed staff for more detail on which project options could be deferred and how rate increases might be phased. S6 said Bowman (the city’s water engineering firm) is preparing a rate study and will help with grant writing and reporting: “They’ll hold your hand,” he said.
Next steps and timeline: staff will meet with USDA Rural Development the week after the meeting to explore additional loan and grant authority, consider the state revolving loan fund if USDA offers no additional funding, and meet with Congressman Hurd in Monte Vista on April 7 to discuss federal support. S6 also said he plans to bring more detailed budget, alternative and phasing options back to council once staff and the engineer have assessed which line items could be delayed without compromising compliance.
The council did not adopt a funding package at this meeting; it deferred detailed decisions pending further information from USDA, the engineer’s rate study and projected congressional or state support.
