LENNOX – The Lennox City Council could pay off three infrastructure projects and eliminate a monthly sewer surcharge for its residents if it agrees to accept wastewater from a men’s prison proposed by the state Department of Corrections, according to a city official.

That’s if the state agrees to a deal similar to one rejected by Harrisburg earlier this year.

The Lennox City Council did not vote to accept an agreement during Monday’s night’s council meeting, as there’s currently no proposal on the table. 

Instead, the council reviewed the financial windfall a deal to service inmate sewage could bring to the town of 2,400 if the city were offered a deal like Harrisburg’s.

Council members gave City Administrator Nathan Vander Plaats their blessing to work with the DOC to prepare an agreement.

If a deal comes together, the council could vote on the matter on Nov. 12.

“I think we need to see a deal before we make any decisions,” Council Member Chad Swier said. “We’re just theorizing numbers here.”

Harrisburg says NOPE to state prison wastewater deal

The city of Harrisburg, about six miles from the prison’s proposed location in rural Lincoln County, rejected a state proposal for sewer services after pushback from rural residents with property near the site. That deal would have dropped a $7.1 million one-time payment into city coffers, in addition to annual payments. 

The prison proposal would replace the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. The building was erected in 1881, and Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko has argued that the facility is too antiquated to operate safely. Lawmakers have committed $569 million to the project, but there is no guaranteed price yet.

The project has drawn intense criticism from the proposed site’s rural neighbors. Some of those neighbors filed a lawsuit that sought to force the state to adhere to Lincoln County’s zoning ordinances. A circuit court judge dismissed that case last week.

Lennox is about 15 miles from the prison site, across Interstate 29 to the west. Vander Plaats said the city approached the state after Harrisburg’s vote against a sewage deal.

Vander Plaats presented a fiscal analysis of what a deal with Lennox might mean, based on the Harrisburg proposal. It suggests the deal could come in the form of a $10.5 million one-time payment.

That’s enough money for the city to retire its debt on a wastewater treatment facility and two clean water basins. Clearing that debt from the city ledger and adding the state’s payments would boost the city’s bottom line by $350,000 annually, according to an analysis prepared by Vander Plaats. He said the city wouldn’t see the money until 2028 at the earliest.

But that figure drops by $150,000 annually when factoring in around $4.5 million in necessary upgrades to the city’s facilities. The city would take on 200,000 more gallons of sewage each day, the analysis says.