County OK’s state borrowing for digester

By Kevin O’Brien

Marathon County supervisors gave the go-ahead Tuesday, March 19, for the builders of a manure digester at Lynn Farms in the town of Brighton to pursue up to $25 million in tax-exempt bonds from the state.

Michigan-based Novilla RNG is currently constructing a digester under the name of Buckhorn, RNG, which will convert raw methane from cow manure into a biogas that will be injected into a WE Energies pipeline and eventually used as vehicle fuel in California and other areas.

In related news, county officials are considering changes to the county’s conduit borrowing ordinance, which would more clearly spell out the different types of bonding requests that can come before the county and establish a task force system to review each request individually.

Under an amendment developed by administrator Lance Leonhard, a new five-member task force would be formed to consider every new bonding proposal. Each task force would consist of a representative from the Extension, Education and Economic Development Committee (EEEDC), along with members of two committees with interest in the project and one supervisor representing the area in which the project is proposed. Rounding out the membership would be the head of the Greater Wausau Area Chamber of Commerce, who would provide additional input on the economic impact of the proposed project.

The amendment would also lay out the three types of bonding requests the county could receive: industrial revenue bonding without county financial obligations, proposals to be passed on to the PFA, and those that would require issuing general obligation debt.

“I don’t see these requests going away,” Leonhard said. Board chairman Kurt Gibbs, speaking at a March 13 meeting of the Human Resources, Finance and Personnel (HFRP) Committee, said he thinks the task force idea is the right approach because it will allow the board to draft a new charter for every new bonding proposal.

“The criteria for one may be different than the criteria for another, depending on what is being requested from the county,” he said.

When it comes to the bonding requests for manure digesters, supervisor Ann Lemmer said the board needs to consider the county’s longterm goal when it comes to land and water management.

“I think we need all of the information, not necessarily just a sales pitch that’s one-sided,” she said.