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Board approves MOU to loan up to $10 million to preserve $75 million state sewer grant for South Yuba County
Summary
The board approved a memorandum of understanding authorizing a county loan (up to $10 million) to help close a roughly $40 million local-match gap for a $75 million State Water Resources Control Board grant to convey South County sewage to the OPUD treatment plant; the MOU passed after public comment from Wheatland, Enterprise Rancheria/Hard Rock and other partners.
The Yuba County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a memorandum of understanding that would allow the county to loan up to $10,000,000 to the City of Wheatland and Olivehurst Public Utility District to help secure a $75,000,000 State Water Resources Control Board grant for a regional wastewater project serving South Yuba County.
County Administrator Kevin Mallon told the board the State Water Resources Control Board is willing to commit $75 million toward a regional solution that would route sewer from areas of southern Yuba County to the Olivehurst Public Utility District wastewater treatment plant. Mallon said the project has a local-match gap of roughly $40 million; Wheatland has identified just over $5.5 million in cash and the development community may provide about $15 million in advance connection-fee payments, leaving an approximate $20 million shortfall. "The state will grant $75,000,000 toward this project," Mallon said, and the MOU would allow the county to loan a portion of the remaining local match while the partners finalize a loan agreement and fee-repayment mechanics.
Mallon said the county intends to use one-time trust funds — including proceeds from a PG&E settlement trust and other reserved trust accounts — rather than the county's routine operating contingencies. As proposed, repayment would come from future development through conveyance or connection fees collected by the utility entities; the MOU requires Wheatland and OPUD to adopt the fee prior to completing the construction contracts.
Wheatland Mayor Lisa McIntosh told supervisors the city's wastewater plant is more than 60 years old and in poor condition, and she urged county support to avoid losing the grant. "We greatly appreciate Yuba County Board of Supervisors' support for this important regional project," she said, emphasizing environmental and long-term planning benefits.
An Enterprise Rancheria/Hard Rock representative described the tribe's private investment and economic development plans near the proposed pipeline alignment, saying the tribe and gaming/resort partner had invested heavily and viewed the sewer pipeline as a precondition for planned development in a proposed sports and entertainment zone. Terry Daley, a former Yuba Water assistant general manager, urged the board to act and credited staff and local advocates for steady engagement with the state grantor.
Supervisors asked detailed questions about source funds, repayment timing, the rate of development needed for repayment and conditions under which the county would not proceed; county staff said the MOU is conceptual and that a future formal loan agreement and budget adjustments would require separate board action. The board carried the MOU by voice vote following public comment (motion carried).
