SLIB condition causes snag

The upcoming Stage 1 of the Powder River Water project, slated to start in the spring, has hit a snag. SLIB community loan officer Rebecca Webb recently contacted Moorcroft Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Schneider regarding a new requirement for the loan.

The town is expected to retain three months’ worth of payments in a reserve account and Schneider is to send their office a copy of the account statement on a quarterly basis for verification until the loan is paid in full. The amount needed to comply with this order is $47,031.

The town currently holds $36,866 in the water reserve, which is used for emergency repairs and maintenance; this money was itself restricted under the auspices of the former Moorcroft Water Supply project and, while that particular debt has been paid, Schneider is not sure that the relief of the loan releases the strictures over the funds for any other use; she is waiting for an answer from the Wyoming Water Commission to this question.

Schneider explained to the governing body at Monday’s council meeting that if she is able to move said money from the water reserve to cover, in part, the needed three month allocation for this new loan, there would be no available funding for emergency repairs or maintenance of water infrastructure until the town can replenish the water reserve. “If we move that money, it can’t be touched so if we go over on our water budget at any time, if we have a break or something, we wouldn’t have any reserve.”

Schneider noted as well that in the town’s previous dealings with SLIB regarding this loan, “[this requirement] never once came up.”

After consideration, the council approved moving the existing water reserve to a separate state monitored account and making up the $10,165 from the third specific fund that is for this type of infrastructure improvement.