By EDWARD HUSAR
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

The Mill Creek Water District's Board of Trustees will decide in early November how to proceed with a $3.25 million water project in light of the Adams County Board's decision to grant the district only $950,000 in recovery zone bonding authority.

The board had requested $3.25 million of the $6.483 million in bond cap issued to Adams County through the federal government's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. However, the County Board decided Tuesday to allocate $5.533 million -- or 85 percent of the cap -- to the Quincy Public Library for a major construction project, with the rest going to the water district.

"Naturally we were disappointed, but that's the way things go and you just have to live with it," said Gerald Christner, president of the Mill Creek board.

Christner said he's not sure how the district will proceed with its proposed expansion project.

"We've made no decisions," he said. "As soon as our board meets, we'll make a decision on what way we want to go on this."

One option is to seek "Build America" bonds, which are available to public entities without restriction. Build America bonds offer a federal rebate of 35 percent on interest costs. While that's attractive, it's not as good a deal as the recovery zone bonds, which offer a 45 percent rebate.

"We're not dead in the water, that's for sure," Christner said.

The district wants to expand its water production capabilities by developing a new well and building a new treatment plant along Ill. 57. It also wants to construct a 500,000-gallon storage tank and booster pumps, install some additional water mains and expand the size of certain mains to provide greater efficiency and capacity.

The district serves more than 2,000 water customers in five townships immediately outside of Quincy.

-- ehusar@whig.com/221-3378