HomeMy Public PortalAbout05-28-2009 Public HearingTown
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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
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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
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Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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