Pocahontas OKs sewer bonds

Residents in Pocahontas want a sewer -- apparently very badly.

Voters in the village approved a $500,000 bond issue for a sewer project by a 30-1 margin Tuesday, according to unofficial results. Forty-eight percent of the 65 registered voters there showed up at the polls, by far the largest percent of any district or township in the county.

"I thought there'd be some negativity, there always is," said Mayor Mark Kasten. "I didn't think it would pass by this much of a landslide. And that's a pretty decent turnout for an off year when all we had on the ballot was school board races. It really shows we're on the right path and doing the right thing."

The project has been in the works for several years with town officials carrying out background work for more than one year.

Residents of the town say the clay soil in the area is not conducive to septic tanks. Many of the septic tanks in the village, residents say, are getting old and breaking down.

"I voted for it," said resident Marjorie Swan. "Oh my goodness, we need it. The whole town needs it."

Exactly how the project -- expected to cost at least $1 million -- will be funded remains up in the air. The town is still awaiting the results of a grant application filed with the Missouri Rural Development, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Kasten said he expects to receive more funding through a state community development block grant during the project's latter stages.

Those grants will have an impact on how much the town will have to charge its residents.

Kasten said residents could be charged up to $30 per month for sewer.

Construction on the new sewer could begin in 2004. The town will have 30 years to pay off the bonds.