Senoia's City

Council got a crash course Tuesday afternoon of the cost in being in the

sewerage business.

The city is

getting ready to embark on building phase two of its municipal sewer system.

The price tag for the project is pegged at $6.1 million, but Rural Development

Fund representative Joyner Smith said time is of the essence in moving

the project forward.

The city is

building the project with a combination of loans and grants. Rural Development

is loaning the city nearly $3.5 million, and the city learned its monthly

payback on the 40-year note will be over $17,000.

Smith said

the payback on the loan will start one year after the construction is

complete. The city will have to pay a one time interest payment of $170,000

and then start making its monthly payments.

Smith said

the city must have enough in its sewer fund to pay the payment, and if

it doesn't, it would have to adjust sewer rates to make up the difference.

The city is

still working on permits for the project, along with getting easements

from residents to run sewer lines through their yards.

He urged the

city to get the work done as quickly as possible, because the current

soft economy could work in the city's favor when it puts the project out

to bid.

"Hopefully,

there will be some hungry contractors out there," he said.

If the project

can be bid by April, Smith said construction could start in late summer.

With a timeline of one year, the city could be fully hooked up to the

system by the summer of 2003, he said.