BWD clears $1.5M loan
LISBON — The Buckeye Water District has repaid the $1.5 million it borrowed from Columbiana County commissioners in 2012 to settle the lawsuit filed by East Liverpool.
County Commissioner Mike Halleck confirmed that BWD Director Al DeAngelis dropped off a check in the amount of $1.5 million on Jan. 17 and he had forgotten to mention it until the Journal inquired this week about whatever came of the debt.
The money was put toward the $6.2 million the BWD agreed to pay East Liverpool after it lost a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by the city when the BWD quit purchasing water from East Liverpool in the early 2000s. To help resolve the dispute, commissioners agreed to loan the BWD $1.5 million to put toward what East Liverpool was owed.
The $1.5 million represented bonus money commissioners received from leasing county property for shale gas development, and the loan was for five years. Although commissioners loaned the money to the BWD in May 2012, the clock did not start ticking until the settlement agreement was reached and approved by the judge in January 2013.
DeAngelis said he had been instructed before to pay off the loan as soon as they were able, which is what he did. “The county was gracious enough to loan us the money and we wanted to get them paid back as soon as we could,” he said, adding that paying it off a year early should give them more flexibility as they move forward with other projects.
“You just put it behind you and move on,” DeAngelis said.
Halleck said commissioners were happy to be in a position to help resolve the nearly eight-year-old lawsuit once and for all. “I’m just glad it worked out,” he said, adding, “It didn’t cost the county taxpayers a dime.”
The money was been transferred into the county general fund.
tgiambroni@mojonews.com
COMMENTS