Nebraska City officials are working to close the books on a company’s loan repayment.
At a regular meeting earlier this week, the Nebraska City City Council approved a settlement with former owners of Waste Container Systems LLC to repay funds received from the city’s Growth Fund. Nebraska City Commissioner Cole Sharp said the settlement totaled $100,000, with $50,000 coming from each of the two owners.
“We’re looking to get a settlement taken care of on that to kind of close out their involvement with that,” Sharp said. “The city attorney will continue to pursue the third owner as well, but it’s good to get a portion of those funds back, and into the economic development fund, for sure.”
In 2019, the council awarded the company a $150,000 loan under Nebraska’s LB 840 economic growth program, followed by another $50,000 loan in 2020, bringing the total to $200,000. Nebraska City Mayor Bryan Bequette told KMA News that despite the city’s funding, the company struggled and had difficulty fulfilling contracts for the containers.
“It looked like a pretty promising project,” Bequette said. “Unfortunately, the company started doing not so well after COVID and stopped making payments after 2023. Since then, we’ve been going back and forth with the owners. We understand that they sold the company this summer. There’s still an outstanding balance of $155,000, so we’re trying to figure out the best means to go forward.”
The commissioners had previously taken no action on a $50,000 settlement in November. Sharp said the decision reached this week followed up to four years of negotiations with the former owners. He discussed the settlement on KMA’s “Morning Line” program earlier this week.
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