Terre Haute's mayor says the city is still hurting for cash due to property tax caps and lower assessed land values. City officials plan to take out a $2.7 million loan to begin 2015. But, they have their eye on a new partnership with a California company that they say could be what the city needs to get back on track.
Mayor Duke Bennett finally received the word he's been waiting for from Powerdyne Renewable Fuels and by year's end, a check for three million dollars that will turn the city's wastewater sludge into diesel fuel.
"This is a great project and the city is going to be in an excellent position with this," Bennett says.
He says the city will save money by paying Powerdyne to process the waste rather than hauling the sludge to Kokomo. The city will also bank on the income generated from selling the diesel fuel to a trucking firm.
In a statement, Powerdyne officials wrote there would be no out-of-pocket costs to the city and that no city employees would lose their jobs. The company plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to have the plant open in two years.