Congressman Sanford Bishop makes stop in Buena Vista

BUENA VISTA, Ga. (WTVM) - A multi-million dollar award is making an essential and expensive project possible in a rural Georgia community.

When city leaders can avoid passing on additional costs to the people for services like water and sewer, it’s a win-win for everyone.

This is exactly what is happening for the residents of Buena Vista, located just 30 miles southeast of Columbus.

The rural town with a limited budget was facing a hardship of being required to build new waste water plant. City officials say it would have meant raising water rates from $24 to $80 a month per customer.

However, thanks to an 8 million dollar grant from the US Department of Agriculture and with help from Congressman Sanford Bishop and stakeholders, the facility will be built without having to pass that burden onto the people of Buena Vista.

“To be able to give this kind of assistance to a community in the 2nd Congressional District like Buena Vista, Georgia is just very very fulfilling to me and I’m just delighted that we’ve been able to work in partnership with the various plans to make it happen,” said Congressman Sanford Bishop.

The Buena Vista community lost about 300 jobs when Tyson Foods moved away about six years ago, leaving a 200-thousand dollar dent in their budget as the city’s major water customer.

The grant accounts for 75% of costs and 25% is in loans.

Buena Vista Mayor Kevin Brown, Justin Maxson with the USDA and Executive Director Jimmy Matthews for the Georgia Rural Water Association also attended today’s announcement.

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