Bondi's project offers windfall
Thursday, February 02, 2006, By DAN LAMOTHE
AGAWAM - A $13 million renovation project planned for a facility that creates electricity by burning trash on Bondi's Island may play a role in the city of Springfield receiving a $1.75 million windfall, a top official on the Springfield Finance Control Board said yesterday.
David A. Panagore, deputy director of the control board, said city officials have been in contact with eco/Springfield LLC, which owns the Pioneer Valley Resource Recovery Facility, as it plans for a variety of upgrades, including nearly $7 million in new combustion and ash-handling equipment.
The purpose of the discussions has been to work out an agreement with the corporation in which it would "front load" payments to Springfield annually as part of a long-term agreement that was made before the waste-to-energy facility was built in 1988.
The early payments would bring an estimated $1.425 million to the cash-strapped city, Panagore said. Springfield also could receive an additional $300,000 if the corporation pays off the rest of an annual fee set aside for the eventual closure of the facility's ash landfill, which is located on Springfield land, he said.
"Ideally, we'd look to use that money for blight eradication in Springfield," Panagore said. "We've had a very good working relationship with (their corporation) and all of their (financial) reviews have been very good."
Margretta E. Morris, vice president of governmental programs for Energy Answers, parent company of eco/Springfield LLC, confirmed that the corporation has been in discussions with Springfield officials. "We looked at it and said, 'If this will help, let's talk about it,'" she said.
Early details of the project were revealed to Agawam city officials in a Jan. 18 letter from the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, which gave preliminary approval to a bond for the project on Jan. 12.
The letter notes that as a part of the bond, the corporation will be able to borrow money that Springfield loaned the original owners of the facility when they were designing it. The facility opened in 1988, costing an estimated $36 million to build, and now serves at least 10 communities.
Morris said that when eco/Springfield LLC purchased the facility in 1999 from the Springfield Resource Recovery Limited Partnership, it acquired all outstanding bills the facility had on the books.
"We've been paying them (Springfield) along the way, and now we are going to pre-pay the rest of that debt," she said.