By John Pacenti
You gotta spend money to make money — or something like that.
The Manalapan Town Commission at its March 10 meeting approved $71,700 for an engineering firm to obtain a low-interest loan for the town’s $20 million septic-to-sewer project.
Tom Biggs, vice president for Mock Roos & Associates, told the commission that multiple submissions are required to obtain a low-interest loan from the State Revolving Fund administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
“There’s a long checklist,” Biggs said. “The process is somewhat complicated.”
The loan program — funded by federal and state contributions — functions like an infrastructure bank to provide local governments with the capital needed to plan and build wastewater, stormwater and drinking water projects.
“The subsidized loan currently operates in the 2% (interest) range, and it fluctuates based on income statistics for the town,” Biggs said. He said the loan would cost the town significantly less than a bond issue — which would have to be approved by voters.
There was relatively little discussion among commissioners. Another Florida coastal town — Key Biscayne — recently paid a different engineering firm more than $20,000 to fill out an application for the revolving fund for its stormwater project.
The issue was controversial for the village because it had a staff member in charge of obtaining outside funding for infrastructure projects. Manalapan has no such staff member or expertise.
Town Manager Eric Marmer said Mock Roos will incorporate simultaneous work, such as a rate study, that will show how many customers will need to be connected to a central sewer line and what they should be charged.
Mock Roos is also putting in two applications for two different state grants, he said. The town has also applied for U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel’s community project funding, which directs federal dollars to Palm Beach County to improve infrastructure, public safety, health services and education, Marmer added.
Marmer has called the septic-to-sewer project the town’s top priority.
Septic systems are used by most single-family homes in Ocean Ridge, Manalapan and Gulf Stream.
The state’s porous limestone and sandy soil allow nitrogen and pathogens from septic systems to leach directly into the groundwater and coastal estuaries. The chance that Manalapan gets the State Revolving Fund loan seems good.
Former DEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton, addressing legislative subcommittees in 2023, said the agency was committed to addressing septic tanks, saying they “represent a direct threat to water bodies, so we’ve prioritized those efforts for replacement.”
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