By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Bronson Town Manager Susan Beaudet announced Monday the town has filed for $25 million in grants to double the number of sewered homes in the city and revamp its aging sewer plant.

            She said the state, counties, and cities are flush with federal grant money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and two new grant programs are available to vastly improve the town’s sewer system.

            The town on Friday filed for a $14.1 million grant through the Protect Florida Together program to double the number of homes that have central sewer in Bronson. There are currently 220 homes connected to the central city sewer.

            “We’re trying to find a way to pay for the $71,000 a month we pay to USDA,” she said, referring to the city’s sewer loan through the United States Department of Agriculture.

            Beaudet said the town also filed for a $10.9 million Protect Florida Together grant to revamp the city’s sewer plant.

            “We’ve been working with Mittauer and Associates (engineering firm) and there’s a lot of money everywhere. We got ARPA money, the county’s got ARPA money, the state’s got ARPA money and there’s a push by Gov. DeSantis to get off septic tanks,” Beaudet said.

            She said she has been told the town has a good chance of getting both grants in part because the town is part of the Rainbow River Springs Area, a water basin being impacted by septic tanks.

            “We’re also a Rural Area of Opportunity (RAO). The fact that we’re both of those gives us an extra advantage,” she said. “We wanted to let you guys know that’s out there – we’re trying to give people on sewer a bigger, better bolder way to get funds.”

            Mayor Robert Partin commended his hard-working town manager for doing things the town has never been able to do in the past. He said the two grants fall into the category of accomplishing things that were out of reach previously.

            “This is a prime example of having a person in that seat, and I commend you on the job you’re doing on this,” Partin said. “In years gone past we just never had the ability to go after some of this stuff, not because we didn’t want to – it takes time, energy, and effort for that person to do that right.”

            “It’s a pleasure to work with Sue when it comes to working with this stuff. She comes in there and sits down and she will overrun you sometimes with a lot of information on some of this stuff,” Partin added. “Some of this stuff she sends me it’s like I’m back in school. Here is the information for the day and we all get a printout for the week about what’s going on.”

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    Town of Bronson Regular Meeting August 15, 2022; Posted August 15, 2022