OTTUMWA — How’s this for a close call?

Earlier this summer county officials decided to bond for $2.5 million to cover some badly needed road repairs. Less than a month after those bonds went through, the nation’s entire credit market seized up, including the bond markets for cities and counties.

In other words, what was possible a month ago isn’t possible now. Supervisor Jerry Parker said the county is getting correspondence from state and national affiliations warning that bonding for projects now is almost impossible.

“We got ours in just under the wire,” he said. “We were very fortunate. If we looked at doing it today we wouldn’t.”

Go back a couple months to when the supervisors first began considering the bonds. The county needed to make major repairs to 87th Street, but also needed to address the gravel roads decimated by winter weather and floods.

Wapello County didn’t have enough money in the budget to do both. Bonds offered the chance to free up money for the gravel road repairs while also bringing in funds for 87th Street. Conditions were favorable, with low interest rates. And the county didn’t have any outstanding debts.

Supervisors moved relatively quickly to take advantage of a situation that looked unusually good. They didn’t spend as much time as they might usually on such an effort.

“Everything seemed to be right. It was more right than we knew,” Parker said.

Within days the bad mortgages that were already souring the economy took a chunk out of several major banks. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came within a hair of failing completely before the federal government took control. Other lenders weren’t so fortunate, leading to failures that eclipsed Enron as the biggest in history.

At first, private borrowers like people looking for a new home or car began having trouble finding loans. Then even people with solid credit ran into problems. The lines of credit started closing down.

Then businesses found they couldn’t get loans. Finally, even county and city governments found the bonds they depend on for major projects simply were not possible. But Wapello County’s bonds had already gone through.

Things worked out well this time, but the county is concerned about next year. The landfill, a joint effort with the city of Ottumwa and the county, will need a new cell. That will cost the county about $500,000. New equipment could add another $500,000 for a total cost of $1 million.

Simply put, the county does not have that kind of cash ready for use. Bonding is again the simplest option for raising the money.

But no one knows whether the credit market will open up again before next summer, when Parker anticipates trying to bond for the funding. For now, the best Wapello County can do is to wait and examine its options.

“I’m looking at other sources of revenue,” he said. “We’re going to watch it and see.”