After almost a year of talks and planning, the city of Dawsonville is finally ready to issue bonds aimed at restructuring debt.

During the authority's June meeting last year, the Dawsonville Downtown Development Authority voted to draft bond proceedings to aid the city in refinancing $4.9 million in water infrastructure debt.

According to City Attorney Dana Miles, the city is projecting a sizable savings.

"We are taking all of the city's water and sewer debts and combining it into one debt," he said. "Most of that debt is in the 4-6 percent interest rate. By going through the DDA, we will be getting a lower interest rate."

By consolidating the debt into one location, the city will only have to pay on one set of interest, as opposed to the six to eight sets of debts, according to Miles. This will consolidate the city's debt into one source that will be paid off over the course of 22 years.

Miles also said that this will free up about $25,000 to $30,000 from the current yearly budget that the city is spending on debt services that can then be spent on improvement projects.

The city and DDA are set to hold a joint meeting at 8 a.m. this morning to render the final decision for the bonds. Voting results from this meeting were not available as of press time.