The Village of Caledonia will provide $4 million to help fund sanitary sewer improvements needed to support Foxconn Technology Group’s massive LCD manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, under the terms of an agreement between the two villages and Racine County.
The payment will allow the $72 million sewer project to be entirely funded through the tax incremental financing district created for the Foxconn project. In exchange, Caledonia will be able to connect to the upgraded sewer system once it is complete without having to potentially pay up to $26.6 million for its share of the upgrades.
Racine County and Caledonia officials approved the deal Tuesday evening. The Mount Pleasant Village Board is expected to vote on the agreement tonight.
“We’ve reached an agreement that minimizes the financial impact on the Village of Caledonia and Village of Mount Pleasant taxpayers,” said Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave. “This agreement is a testament to the importance and value of intergovernmental cooperation.”
Caledonia and Mount Pleasant both receive water service from the city of Racine and are part of a 2002 sewer service and revenue sharing intergovernmental agreement. The two village are also party to a 2008 shared sewer agreement.
As part of the new agreement, Caledonia is giving Mount Pleasant 1 million gallons of unused wastewater treatment capacity it was allocated under the 2002 agreement. Caledonia will also make a $4 million payment by June 30 that it was scheduled to make for future upgrades under the 2008 agreement.
“This is a win-win situation,” said Jim Dobbs, Caledonia village president. “We are able to help address the Village of Mount Pleasant’s immediate funding need through an upfront payment of money already owed to the village, and reassign unused sewer capacity and in return, we ensure our residents and our community are poised for continued growth by having access to new and improved infrastructure.”
