CRANBERRY TWP — The township supervisors Thursday night approved a $32 million bond to pay for improvements to the Brush Creek Water Pollution Control Facility.

Township manager Jerry Andree said the bond market will give the township a better return so it is going to end up with $35 million.

Andree said the township has been working on the expansion plan for the sewage plant for 10 years.

The township’s cost for the project will be about $41 million, he said. Marshall Township is contributing about $7 million to the project since it uses the same sewage plant.

The total cost of the project is about $48 million.

“We have to raise $41 million,” Andree said. “We are raising what we can now. The project will take about 2½ years to build, so at some point in the next couple years we will have to finance the balance of the project.”

Also Thursday night the supervisors increased the sewer rates from $7.16 to $7.98 per thousand gallons of water, which will take effect Oct. 20. This will cost the average ratepayer $4.10 more a month, Andree said.

The board heard a presentation about the bond from Mike Zubasic, a PNC Capital Markets representative, and Anthony Ditka, bond counsel for the township.

Zubasic said the township will have annual payments of $2.4 million for 20 years for the $32 million bond. That is about $20,000 less than what officials expected in June.

“We are generating $35.3 million in proceeds for your use,” he said. “That difference represents a premium that is paid by the bond owners to you.”

Zubasic said investors are willing to pay the township a premium price, and “your benefit is you generate more proceeds.”

Zubasic said by generating the extra $3 million, the township won’t have to borrow as much money next year when the rates are expected to be higher.

The project is happening in two parts. One is upgrades to the treatment technology and the other is the expansion of the plant, Andree said.

“We have to expand the plant, and number two, we have to upgrade the treatment technology because we have to get a new federal and state operating permit,” Andree said.

“They are requiring us to treat our effluent, the water going back into the stream, to a higher degree.”

The township plans to bid out the project at the end of the year, Andree said.

Bruce Mazzoni, chairman of the supervisors, said this is the largest bond he has approved in his time in office.

“Obviously we wanted to do our due diligence to make sure we proceeded down the right path and got the best rate as a whole, and I feel very comfortable that without a doubt we have the best rate you could possibly get,” he said.

Cranberry received an AA1 rating and this upgrade allowed the township to have an institutional bond which got it better rates, Mazzoni said.