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HomeMy Public PortalAbout05-28-2009 Public HearingTown of HtL' May 28, 2009 Budget Public Hearing and Water /Sewer Fund Budget Workshop Approved: gh MINUTES Board of Commissioners Public Hearing on the Proposed FY10 Budget 10 -Year Financial Plan And Water /Sewer Fund Budget Workshop Thursday, May 28, 2009 7:00 p.m. Town Barn Page I of 6 PRESENT: Mayor Tom Stevens, Commissioners Mike Gering, L. Eric Hallman, Brian Lowen, Frances Dancy, and Evelyn Lloyd. STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Eric Peterson, Assistant Town Manager Nicole Ard, Town Clerk/Director of Administration and Human Resources Donna Armbrister, Budget Analyst Emily Bradford, Finance Director Greg Siler, and Town Engineer /Utilities Director Kenny Keel. Also present were Dan Barker and James Watts, representing the Water Sewer Advisory Board. 1. Open the Public Hearing on the FY09 Budget 7:01:42 PM Mayor Stevens opened the public hearing at 7:01 p.m., and asked if there was anyone from the public who wanted to speak on the proposed budget. There was no response. 2. Close the Public Hearing Motion made by Commissioner Lowen seconded by Commissioner Gering to close the public hearing by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. 3. Water /Sewer Fund Budget Workshop 7:03:09 PM Town Engineer /Utilities Director Kenny Keel said that they had worked hard to get the proposed budget to the lowest possible amount that was still responsible. He said the one increase noted in the proposed budget was the Water Capital Facility Fees and Sewer Capital Facility Fees, noting that the number in the fee schedule was the recommended dollar amounts. Mr. Keel stated the water fees indicated only a marginal increase that was basically inflationary, which was at $1,650 for a residence and was recommended to increase to $1,900, noting the rate had been at $1,650 since 2002 so the increase was small considering the number of years since the last increase. Mr. Keel said the more substantial increase was in the sewer cap fee, which was $2,472 and substantially lower than the $6,000 first proposed. He said it was a significant increase from the 1 May 28, 2009 Budget Public Hearing and Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop Approved: Page 2 of 6 current $634, but it was a much needed increase and was affecting only future customers with no affect on existing customers. 7:06:41 PM Commissioner Gering said regarding what deferred expenses were for the modeling work that predicted what the drawdown should be for the reservoir, did they know enough about what the model required so that they could be collecting the data that would be necessary to give it a reasonable sample space when they did have a model. Mr. Keel said he believed so, noting they had data points they were collecting now. He said they were always tracking the level of the reservoir and what was leaving under controlled releases, adding they also had the Eno River flood gauge downstream. Mr. Keel said the one thing that would be helpful would be to get some monitoring of Lake Orange so that the amount of flow from Lake Orange could be backed out of the flow rate they were getting on their gauge which would allow them to model the West Fork somewhat better. Mr. Keel said it was his understanding that that project for Lake Orange was in the County's CIP and they were waiting for some written confirmation from the County that they would be moving forward with that project. He said when they were confident the County would be moving forward, he then would be confident in releasing the Town's payment for the preliminary work to begin. Mr. Keel said the data that project would provide would be helpful for the Town's model as well as the Neuse hydrologic model that was nearing its completion stage but could always accept new data points. He said he would be contacting OWASA who had done a similar drawdown model and determine if there were any other data points they should be collecting leading up to doing that model. 7:09:56 PM Dan Barker, a member of the Water Sewer Advisory Board, said the SWAB had discussed the proposed budget and the general consensus was that with the current economy what was proposed should be done, and although there were other things that needed to be done this year was not the appropriate year to do so. Mayor Stevens stated he had heard the concern of the Town Board that they stay abreast of their infrastructure, so they certainly had that in mind as they moved forward. Mr. Barker said that as you watched the rates across the State, Hillsborough had gone from being in the top few to being in the top 25 and much of that was because they had been taking care of their system and had done things when costs were less expensive. Mayor Stevens thanked the SWAB for its oversight and the efforts they had put into their work. 7:11:17 PM Mr. Peterson then went through the Recommended Water and Sewer Fund Budget by division, beginning with Administration of Enterprise which was the cost shared with the General Fund and was a $63,000 decrease this year. He said Engineering reflected a decrease of $47,000, and Billing and Collections reflected an increase of $9.669. Mr. Peterson said regarding the radio read project, they would begin work on the expenditure side as far as the bidding process, noting that in August the second phase of the stimulus funding would take place. He said one of the major focuses of that funding was energy efficiency and green 2 May 28, 2009 Budget Public Hearing and Water /Sewer Fund Budget Workshop Approved: Page 3 of 6 building, as well as reduction of carbon footprints, and that information would be provided to bolster their application for stimulus funding. Mr. Peterson said if they were unsuccessful in obtaining stimulus funding, then they would pursue traditional installment purchase and finance. Mr. Peterson stated the next division was the Water Treatment Plant, noting there was a correction in that section. Budget Analyst Emily Bradford stated that the ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) Online Meters shown under Capital Outlay on page 298 was a duplication and was not suppose to be in that section, but should have only been shown in the Wastewater Plant section. Mr. Peterson said the next division was the West Fork Eno Reservoir. Ms. Bradford stated they now had the financing numbers for the reservoir, which put the FY 09 budget at about $120,000 more than shown because that was the upfront financing cost for this year. She said the FY 10 number would therefore show a reduction in Debt Service payments by that same number of $120,000. Mr. Peterson asked had that affected the bottom line. Ms. Bradford responded it had, noting they had planned to spend about $55,000 in Fund Balance for FY 10 to balance the budget, but they now would have about a $55,000 surplus, which was moved into Contingency for any unforeseen expenditures. She said as of now, no Fund Balance would be required. 7:17:18 PM Mr. Peterson said this would be the first year since he joined the Town that they had not had to use any Fund Balance to balance the budget. Mr. Peterson said the next division was Water Distribution, and after that came Wastewater Collection and the Wastewater Treatment Plant. 7:18:55 PM Commissioner Lloyd asked if the Magnolia Outfall and the Eno River Outfall listed under Unfunded Budget Requests in the Wastewater Collection division meant that they had had the means to do gravity flow in the beginning. Mr. Keel said the Magnolia Outfall would require that they go through Flynt Ridge Apartments and take over a part of their sewer line. He said it could have been an outfall, adding he did not know why it was a pump station since that had happened before his coming to work for the Town. Mr. Keel said it may have been because of difficulties in going through privately owned property at that time. Commissioner Lloyd stated it was better if they could be gravity lines in the beginning. Mr. Keel stated the one for the Eno was just an evaluation of the current outfall that ran along the Eno, which was the preliminary work necessary as they moved towards a rehabilitation project for that sewer line. 7:22:48 PM Commissioner Dancy stated a good job had been done in reducing the budget. Mr. Peterson stated that OWASA was projecting another year of reductions in water usage for the coming year, and were considering a rate increase because of that. He said he had budgeted a flat figure for the coming year and they would need to monitor that on a monthly basis. Mr. Peterson said that the next few months would be critical from a usage standpoint, and they would 3 May 28, 2009 Budget Public Hearing and Water /Sewer Fund Budget Workshop Approved: Page 4 of 6 need to monitor water usage during the summer. He said by October or early November they would have a good idea of what the year would look like trend -wise, so the next six months would be very important as far as the revenue trend went. 7:24:44 PM Commissioner Gering asked had any projections been made as to what the UNC Hospital water usage might be. Mr. Peterson responded they had done some rough figures. Mr. Keel stated he did not have those figures with him, but it was a higher figure than that portion of Waterstone that they were expecting to use. Commissioner Gering said it would be hard to imagine a more intensive use of water than a hospital. Mr. Peterson said he had not updated the complete water capacity study for the truck stop analysis because it was less than projected. He said he believed based on the number of beds at the hospital the figure was around 25,000 gallons per day. Mr. Keel added they did not yet know enough about what would be on the site other than the number of beds to make any further projections. 7:25:53 PM Mayor Stevens said in talking with hospital officials they certainly believed that was within the range. He said they were much more likely to have a stormwater collection system for secondary use and other conservation systems, but that was hard to judge at this point. Commissioner Lloyd stated she had been told they would do everything possible to conserve and to recycle what they could. She asked would it be possible at some point to meet with them and people from Waterstone about that at the same time. Mr. Peterson said first they would have to get their Certificate of Need, and once that hurdle was crossed then the next step would be to amend the Master Plan to change the retail use to medical. Mayor Stevens said he believed they were in the process of getting things in place to get that Certificate of Need which required working with Stratford to straighten some things out, and he would expect them to sit down with Town staff in the new few months to see where they were. He said there was nothing to be done until that Certificate of Need was obtained. 7:27:53 PM Commissioner Lowen said in the years he had been on this Board, this was the second year that they had not had anyone come forward from the public, even in their hardest times, to speak about the budget. He said they must be doing a very good job and people were satisfied, and believed that spoke volumes about the work staff was doing, and what staff did made the Commissioners' jobs so much easier. Commissioner Lowen said they had the budget before them, but there was not a lot the Board could do and not a lot of comments they could make because the staff had done the ground work and research necessary. He said he appreciated the hard work they did every year, and believed that not having the public come forward to speak either for or against the proposed budget was a stamp of approval and indicated they were doing a good job. 4 May 28. 2009 Budget Public Hearing and Water /Sewer Fund Budget Workshop Approved: Page 5 of 6 Mr. Peterson stated he appreciated those comments. noting they took to heart the direction the Board provided, both at the retreat and during the year, and this year with the economic downturn the Board had been clear what direction staff was to take. He said he believed that information as well as the Citizens Newsletter alerted citizens to the fact that they were doing everything possible to hold costs and rates as much as possible while continuing an acceptable level of service. Mr. Peterson said the staff was acutely aware of how fortunate they were to have such a supportive Board in many regards, and they did not take that for granted. He thanked the Board for its support, as well. 7:30:00 PM Mayor Stevens said he believed Commissioner Lowen had spoken for them all, and he believed that continuous communication with staff was critical to their success. Commissioner Gering asked would they be voting to approve the budget at the June regular meeting. Mr. Peterson stated that was scheduled for the June 8 meeting, unless the Board needed further deliberation. He said with the uncertainty with what the State was doing some municipalities were waiting until closer to the end of the month, but even if the State took some of their funding he did not know that it would change their proposed tax rate. Mr. Peterson said at this point that was the only variable that could change, and if something like that happened there was a good probability that local governments would be quick to mobilize the likes of which had never been seen. Mr. Peterson said all of the minor corrections would be made and the numbers updated, and the Board would have a budget ordinance before them for consideration of adoption at its June 8 meeting. The Board agreed to consider adoption of the Budget Ordinance at its June 8 meeting. 7:33:50 PM Mayor Stevens said they would plan for the June 8 meeting unless something significant happened with the State before then. He noted they had a placeholder meeting scheduled for next week, but that meeting did not appear to be necessary. Mr. Peterson said in the Southern City magazine recently published there were two articles worth reading, one of which was an interview with the Police Officer in Carthage that stopped the shooting in the rest home, noting it had been very interesting to read his perspective of the events. He said Hillsborough was a small town like Carthage, and it reminded him that their officers and employees did very important jobs and they sometimes took that for granted because they were exposed to them daily. Mr. Peterson said it reminded him of what could happen and to look at things in a different light, and of how important those employees were and that they invest and take good care of them. Mr. Peterson said the other article was about the City of Burlington's Wellness Program, who had started off small like Hillsborough had done. He said they had Nurse Practitioners as well as doctors on staff that employees could take advantage of, and they had just purchased an $800,000 building funded with the savings from their reductions in health insurance costs. Mr. Peterson said once they saw some "daylight" in the budget, perhaps they could have a Nurse 5 Practitioner begin making weekly visits for employees who may not want to visit a doctor or take the time off from work. He said if they found that to be a good investment and cost effective, then perhaps they could begin to add services such as that. Mr. Peterson said in addition to saving money and controlling insurance rates, it would be a huge benefit for employees and their families. Mr. Peterson encouraged the Board to read both articles he had described. 4. Adjourn Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lowen, the Board moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:36 p.m. by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. Respectfully submitted, Donna F. Armbrister, MMC Town Clerk 6 May 28, 2009 Budget Public Hearing and Water /Sewer Fund Budget Workshop Approved: Page 6 of 6