At tonight’s meeting, the Greensboro City Council approved an ordinance establishi”ng appropriations of of $33 million in the Water Resources Capital Improvement Fund for Greensboro’s share of the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority’s Water Treatment Plant and related Transmission Lines and Pump Stations.
City Manager Mitchell Johnson put it in plain English:
“What we’re basically doing is giving them $33 million and hoping they give us water.”
The garbage issue came up again during discussion of the previous item, which was a resolution approving $9 million in financing for garbage trucks for areas being annexed July 1. (Never mind that the equipment was already on order and would have to be paid somehow with cash or the council-approved financing agreement.)
Council member Mike Barber brought up the prospect of contracting sanitation services in newly-annexed areas that are already receiving those services through the private sector, thus saving the city from having to go into debt for new equipment.
Council member Robbie Perkins noted that the city was borrowing the money at a 3.2 percent rate, and he “wasn’t sure anybody in the private sector could borrow the money that cheap.”
“Maybe not,” Barber replied. “The might pay cash and not have any debt service because they’re profitable companies.”
Fellow council member Goldie Wells suggested this was barber’s way of revisiting the controversial decision to close the White Street landfill, telling Barber all he was “thinking about is the money” and the council had to decide whether “a life or a dollar” was worth more.
