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Nicholasville officials took the first vote to fund construction of the new police department and upgrades to the sewer plant as part of a $40.7 million bond issue Monday.

The city commissioners voted unanimously for the package totaling $40,695,000. A second reading will come at a future meeting.

The bond includes about $6.96 million for the Nicholasville Police Department, $720,000 for a new fire truck and $19.8 million for sewer treatment plant upgrades and expansion. It will also refinance $12.1 million in Kentucky Infrastructure Authority debt and $1.04 million in 2011 general obligation bonds.

“It was a great opportunity to shift this into an incredibly low interest rate,” Nicholasville Mayor Pete Sutherland said. “The good thing is is these are way below what we were calculating.”

The final interest rate, he said, will be between 1.57 and 1.92 percent.

Nicholasville Fire Chief Mark Case said the department may not order the truck until 2021, but wanted to secure the financing for the project now.

The bond issue will also save the city about $1.5 million by refinancing $12 million in Kentucky Infrastructure Authority debt and consolidate and refinance a 2011 bond issue, Joe Lakofka of RSA Advisors said.

The bonds will be sold on the competitive market Oct. 28, and it usually takes about 45 days to finalize a bond issue, he said.

Construction is already well underway on the police department, which is expected to be completed in 2021. The building will be about 22,000 square feet and include public meeting space in addition to room for the department’s 72 officers.

Nicholasville Public Utilities Director Bob Amato said previously the improvements and expansion will increase the plant capacity from 4.1 million gallons per day to 7.1 MGD. Construction would take about 18 months.