By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- The Potsdam Village Board of Trustees has approved the issuance of up to $10.71 million in bonds to finance maintenance and upgrades of the village’s wastewater treatment infrastructure.

The vote at their meeting Monday night was 4-0.

Mayor Steve Yurgartis said that he doesn’t expect the village will have to borrow all $10.71 million. The village will apply for $2 million in grants “and the rest in zero-percent loans.”

He said if the terms of the grants and loans are favorable, it’s possible that the sewer rate will remain the same or could actually go down.

The measure approving the borrowing was required before the applications could go out.

Citizens may petition for a permissive referendum on the matter. If there is no referendum, the board vote is sufficient to go ahead.

At a meeting in August, Barton and Loguidice of Syracuse, engineers hired by the village to evaluate the system and recommend upgrades, laid out the specifics of their plan, from replacement of some systems that go back to 1970 to new energy efficiency improvements.

The funding plan includes a state Environmental Facilities Corporation Clean Water State Revolving Fund 30-year loan with hardship financing at zero percent interest; a Clean Water Infrastructure Improvement Grant of up to 25 percent of project costs; a USDA Rural Development Rural Utilities Service grant of $500,000; and $600,000 from a Community Development Block Grant.