Council pores over financing

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Hillsboro city council, with street and water system projects on their to-do-list, discussed finding financing to move forward at Tuesday’s meeting.

The council decided weeks ago that water system upgrades are a high priority. The cost to replace deteriorating water lines ranges from $3.1 million to $4.7 million, depending on how much work is done at one time, city administrator Larry Paine said.

Work on city streets is estimated to cost $4.5 million.

However, if the surface of a concrete street is milled and given an asphalt overlay, that would cut the $1.5 million price of removing and replacing the concrete, Paine said.

“I can delay a lot of things on that project list until spring, but these streets have some urgency,” Paine said.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment has money available to lend the city, while federal agencies that could help with financing the work are themselves waiting to see if they are budgeted money, Paine said.