BRASELTON — With a little financial assistance, the town of Braselton plans to embark on three projects to upgrade its water and sewer system.

The Braselton Town Council approved resolutions Monday to accept two loans and modify an existing loan, all through the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.

Two projects involve upgrading existing lift stations along Ga. 124 and the third concerns adding four new town wells.

The first project, which involves upgrading an existing industrial park lift station in Barrow County to pump 300 gallons per minute, is expected to cost $690,000.

Braselton plans to pay for the upgrade with a $390,000 loan from GEFA and a $300,000 grant it received from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The town will repay the loan over a 15-year period at an interest rate of 2.8 percent.

Construction is slated to begin in February and finish in December 2011. Braselton will begin seeking bids on the project within the next 30 days, according to Town Manager Jennifer Dees.

The second project, which will replace a lift station on Ga. 124 in Jackson County, is expected to cost $850,000. The station has been in operation in Braselton since 1974.

The town will pay for the entire project through a GEFA loan, which it will repay over a 20-year period at an interest rate of 2.8 percent.

The council awarded BRI Utility Construction, Inc. with the project on Monday after the company submitted a bid of $744,470. Construction is slated to begin in January and finish in December 2011.

Finally, the council voted to modify an existing $4.3 million loan Braselton received from GEFA in 2007 to expand its water supply, distribution and storage. The project was partially funded through $360,050 in local funds.

"We have completed all of the water lines that were in the original (loan), but it (also) gives us the ability to do another water project with the funds available," Dees said.

"GEFA has approved our wells as a project that they would fund under that existing agreement."

Braselton requested that GEFA increase the town’s current loan by $217,750 to help dig four new wells.

Dees estimated the new wells will come online by March or April and each will have the ability to pump 1.2 million gallons per day.

The town must repay the loan by 2030, and is currently repaying it at an interest rate of 3.4 percent.