[sportutegrl]

There has to be more to this story. ‘Debt service’ is a fancy way of saying ‘interest on a loan’. Who sold these muni bonds? What is the interest rate? How much was the incinerator? 68 Million for debt service for an incinerator for a town of 47000? This is an insane amount of money to owe for a town this size.

[reaganaut1]

There is a little more information in an article here. The outstanding debt on the incinerator is $288 million. It does appear that the incinerator is supposed to serve the region, not just Harrisburg, but the cost still seems exorbitant.

[mvpel]

It was probably sold as being capable of handling waste from towns miles around, and generating electricity and heat to offset the costs.

One PennLive commenter describes it as the “Ninth Boondoggle Wonder of the World.”

[mvpel]

From December 2006:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=43038&page=84

Harrisburg’s trouble-plagued incinerator holds disposal contracts with Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties. Dauphin County pledged its guarantee behind a part of the $125 million in bonds floated to renovate the plant.

The overhaul was supposed to turn the incinerator into a model of efficiency, capable of consuming 800 tons of trash daily and generating steam and electricity for sale.

Instead, the plant was four months late coming on line this year and has performed nowhere near its rated capacity, missing its first-year revenue projection by $14.3 million.