Water service line. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau City Council voted 6-4 to approve the second year of a five-year plan to replace thousands of lead water pipes in the city.
Though Mayor Doug Diny noted that there are no guarantees regarding funding for the program after this year, and the council should be mindful of what it could do to the city’s debt load. “We are getting grant funding [for this,] but we are tight. We need to be aware that $6 to $8 million is coming onto our debt load. Even over 20 years that’s $400,000 to our debt service.”
Public Works Director Erich Lindman said private-side replacement will continue to be covered through forgivable loans in 2025, noting that the city received some principal forgiveness for the public-side work last year as well. “We did not expect that. We did very well on funding [for 2024]. Next year and subsequent years we may not do as well. But it would be my recommendation that we move forward while we are getting a good [funding] split right now. The principle forgiveness is well over 50%.”
Alders Terry Kilian, Gary Gisselman, Lou Larson, and Vicki Tierney provided the no votes. Alder Carol Lukens was excused from Tuesday’s meeting.
Council President Lisa Rasmussen noted that crews replaced more lines in year one of the plan than they originally aimed for, and all of the residents she spoke to who took advantage of the service were happy with the results.
“I think [Community Infrastructure Partners] proved they can deliver on promises so I am excited to support this,” said Rasmussen. “All of the comments [from those that had the work done] were positive. People felt good about the work that got done and the private side was funded by the program. They did not incur costs”
The original plan for 2024 had the city replacing 500 lead service lines. The actual number was closer to 600. The 2025 plan calls for up to 1,500 lines to be replaced.
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