Despite a large amount of debt and plans to go back to the bond market after the first of the year, the Limestone County Water & Sewer Authority has received a clean bill of financial health.

Cecil Armstrong of accounting firm CDPA presented the findings of the annual audit to the authority’s board at Thursday’s meeting and told members they should be pleased by the outcome.

The authority’s unrestricted cash as of Sept. 30 was $7.3 million, which represented an increase of $2.3 million over the prior year. Receivables also increased $374,000, due to an increase in water sales.

The authority had total liabilities of $96.6 million and total assets of $10.5 million. The utility’s total restricted assets, which includes bond funding to be used for specific projects, is $29.3 million. The utility’s net capital assets, which includes land, buildings, machinery and equipment, vehicles and computers and equipment, is $93.3 million.

“If you’ve ever had a better year, I don’t recall it,” Armstrong said. “The authority has come a long way since when we failed a bond test and we couldn’t pay some bills. The board should be commended for the turnaround.”

He said the utility passed several bond tests a lender would consider before letting LCWSA borrow more money. He explained the utility’s reserve fund had $1.5 million more than is required.

Decatur Crossings

Passing those bond tests are important as the utility prepared to borrow $23.4 million after the first of the year. The funds should allow the utility to complete the ongoing Decatur Crossings project that will allow the utility to purchase water from Decatur Utilities via a waterline under the Tennessee River. The bond will also pay for a booster station to pump the water to Limestone County.

Elsewhere, the board approved a change order that should save $285,760 on the cost of the station by switching from a natural gas backup generator to a diesel-powered generator.

Engineer Alton Hethcoat told the board the station was designed with a natural gas generator in mind, but the size of the generator enclosure won’t accommodate workers should something have to be repaired.

He told the board there was no real issue switching to a diesel-powered generator unless there was a prolonged power outage. If that happens, he said the utility would need to have a plan in place to keep diesel fuel supplied to the generator.

When asked about the progress of Decatur Crossings, Hethcoat told the board the project remains ahead of schedule.

Grant in the works

A grant from a federal program could help the utility complete the construction of a water line that will run to the new GE Aviation Plant off Greenbrier Road.

Lucas Blankenship of the Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments said he is working to secure $1.4 million in funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration if the utility can provide a $1.4 million match for the project.

He explained the federal agency is interested in the water line because the GE Aviation project would provide a projected 300 jobs to Limestone County.

Other business

In other business Thursday, the board allowed the developer of Phase II of the Hilltop Ridge subdivision to continue to use PVC water pipe as opposed to ductile iron pipe.

Developer Steve Simmons said a LCWSA official signed off on plans in August that showed the use of PVC pipe, even though the utility made a decision last year to require developers to use ductile iron.

He said the cost to change the pipe, combined with having an engineer draw up new plans, would cost him about $25,000 more to develop the 32-lot subdivision.