Abby awarded $1M grant for water work

Abbotsford will have $1 million in federal funding to work with as it seeks out new sources of water and also looks to rehabilitate some of its older wells and water tower.

City officials shared the news at Monday’s city council meeting, following an announcement last month by the Wisconsin Department of Administration that the city will receive a $1 million Community Development Block Grant for Public Facilities (CDBG-PF).

The city will need to provide 33 percent matching funds, which in this case will amount to $500,000 for an estimated $1.5 million worth of work.

Utility operator Josh Soyk said the city’s water utility has money in savings, and it also plans on applying for a Safe Drinking Water Loan, which offers low interest rates and partial principal forgiveness.

City administrator Dan Grady said the city could also use a portion of the $230,000 it received from the American Recovery Act to help pay its share of the CDBG projects.

“Water and wastewater is one of the few things we can actually spend the money on,” Grady said.

Under the terms of the CDBG, construction on any grant-funded projects must start no later than July 1, 2022, and be completed by Oct. 31, 2023.

“That should give us plenty of time, I would anticipate, for bidding out all those projects this year for next year,” Soyk said.

MSA Professional Services is finishing up a water system evaluation, which will be followed by a well-site investigation report and plans for rehabilitating some of the city’s existing wells and refurbishing its main water tower.

The city’s grant application, as prepared by MSA, scored 153 points out of a possible 200, based on a mixture of factors, such as the necessity of the project and the city’s median household income.

Abbotsford scored 30 out of 30 on the category of water and sewer rates, which means the government considers them to be a major factor in evaluating the city’s financial need.

The city scored another 20 points because approximately 57 percent of the city’s 2,075 residents meet the definition of “low-to-moderate” income.

DPW Craig Stuttgen credited MSA with helping the city obtain its third CDBG in the past few years.

“The city of Abbotsford never received a block grant until MSA started sending in our applications,” he said. “This will be the third time we’ve gotten this grant, which would be $3 million (total).”