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Perdue, County Strike Deal on Water Plants

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Adrienne Steinfeldt, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Oct. 19--HARTFORD -- Ohio Fiscal Court voted Tuesday to accept an offer from Perdue Farms Inc. that will save the county $2.3 million over the next five years and allow Perdue to keep control of its water and wastewater plants.

In 1994, Perdue was looking for places to locate. Ohio County was in the running but didn't have the infrastructure to support a poultry processing plant, said Perdue manager Terry Ashby. Other counties did.

As an incentive, the county promised to pay Perdue $1 million in 1997, $500,000 a year until 2008, and $300,000 in 2009 -- for a total of $7.8 million -- to offset the cost of the construction of its own water plants.

Ohio County has already handed over $5.5 million.

In 2009, Perdue was to give the county the water plants, with the promise of as much water as the company needs sold back to them at cost.

But Perdue has recently expanded by 20 percent and is looking at another 20 percent expansion in July. It's gotten to the point where it makes more sense to keep the plants, Ashby said. By 2009, most of the water will be heading Perdue's way anyway.

"We believe we can operate the plants more economically and more efficiently than a government entity," Ashby said. "We'll be able to make the decisions of what capital needs to be invested to meet Division of Water requirements."

So Perdue offered to forgive the $2.3 million in remaining payments, and provide the county with 550,000 gallons of water daily, if magistrates agreed to leave the water plants in Perdue's hands.

Although it means paying to improve the county water district's production capacity, Fiscal Court took Perdue up on its offer.

"It's a hard one to turn down, as far as I'm concerned," said Judge-Executive Wayne Hunsaker. "We have $180,000 to $190,000 in things that have come up that we don't have budgeted. We're going to have to find that money somewhere. This alleviates that."

He said he didn't want the long-term liability of a water plant that may need constant upgrades and probably wouldn't benefit Ohio County's water customers.

The vote to amend the agreement between Perdue and Ohio County was four to two. Larry Keown and Richard Robinson voted no.

"This is probably a good idea today," said Robinson, "but is it a good idea two years from now? There are too many unanswered questions that I would like the answer to."

Robinson recommended that the court take a step back and commission an independent study to look at the idea.

Before the vote, the Perdue water plant was providing the county with about a million gallons a day of drinking water.

Cutting that almost in half will require the county water district to up its production. That means money must be spent, said water district superintendent Walt Beasley.

"By doing a few upgrades and running more hours, we can produce enough water," he said. "It's going to cost us a little bit, but we can do that."

On weekends, the Perdue plant still will provide about a million gallons a day.

The court also took the following actions:

-- Approved a resolution requiring any company that borrows the proceeds of the county's industrial bonds to "openly seek bids from local contractors," and "require the successful bidder to extend every means possible to employ qualified local workers in completing the work." The resolution immediately applies to Ritatsu Manufacturing Inc., an auto parts manufacturer that asked to borrow $2.3 million in industrial bond revenue for an ongoing expansion. The court approved a second reading of an ordinance issuing those bonds and loaning the money to Ritatsu.

-- Voted to support the I-66 Foundation, which is seeking backing from Kentucky counties for the interstate project. The planned interstate will travel through Ohio and Muhlenberg counties, according to a letter from the foundation.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

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Source: Messenger-Inquirer

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