Clifton Forge Gets Road Funds; Passes Budget, Water & Sewer Rate Hikes
Utility Increases Spark Some Questions; Town Transfers Sewer Facility Property To County | By Jerry E. Clark
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Clifton Forge, VA (June 14, 2016) - The Clifton Forge Town Council should be pretty happy: very little opposition to its water and sewer rate hikes appeared before it on Tuesday night. And, in a bit of very good news, town manager Darlene Burcham reported that additional funding for the town's $2 million road project from Route 60 to its 13 acres bordering Chestnut St. is on the way.
Council approved a number of significant items at the meeting, including:
• a bond resolution that funds capital items which were approved in May of last year including the paving of the Red Hill Cemetery, financial software and hardware, a storm drain inspection program, a pickup truck with snow plow and the replacing of a vehicle for the Community Development office (replacing one with apparently over 400,000 miles), an X-Mark mower including reasonable costs of financing and issuance. The total of the bond is about $189,000, which will be handled by BB&T bank at a rate of 2.22%. - resulting in about a $40,000 per year cost.
• a resolution imposing and levying taxes for the next fiscal year including the personal property tax rate, both of no increase over the previous year.
• an ordinance repealing the sewer lateral charge (of $3 per month), effective July 1, 2016. This passed with all voting yes other than councilman Irvine. (Residents may still get a sewer cleanout for $60 and the town apparently now has completed less than 100, but is apparently up to date on requests for the service.)
• an ordinance amending the wastewater services charges and fees beginning July 1st. Irvine also voted no on this matter, indicating a preference for using a portion of the fund balance in this account to hold down the price increase. Town finance director LeAnna Tyler told council that the fund balance in the account, despite exceeding $1 million, needed to be preserved due to bond requirements and the need to handle future capital costs. Although a portion of the fund balance was used for next year's budget, according to both Tyler and Burcham, water rates might have been far higher if that had not been the case.
• an ordinance amending water services charges and fees beginning July 1, 2016 - unanimously with the exception of member Jeff Irvine, who appeared to want to take enough from the water surplus fund to hold down the increase. Irvine also opposed this measure.
• a resolution approving the fiscal 2016-2017 operating budget.
• an appropriation resolution, the second reading of which is set for the June 28th meeting, which adds a grant of $50,000 plus an Alleghany Foundation grant of $7,500 to the town's budget for a broadband study.
• adoption of a new county water rate of $4.03 per thousand gallons, up from the current rate of $2.60 per thousand gallons. (At least two citizens at the meeting seemed to believe that the increased rate was not high enough.)
• a resolution transferring about 2.1 acres to the county involving the transfer of assets and land related to the wastewater treatment plant along with the remaining debt from the town to the county.
• a resolution which noted the successful mediation of the sewer rate charges under the 2007 agreement with the county in March of this year which resulted in a new agreement which allocates costs for debt and operation based upon the jurisdiction's actual use of the facilities.
Manager's Comments
Town Manager Darlene Burcham reported how nice the local Flag Day festivities were and indicated the participation of a local boy scout group. She also announced that the town will receive funding for its expensive road project which will link Route 60 near Kroger to the town's 13 acres which adjoins Chest nut St. The bids for that project may be sought this December with construction to begin in the springtime.
Council Comments
Member Johnette Roberts expressed her delight at the town's Flag Day ceremonies (thanking the Main St. organization) and mentioned that a local landlord reacted positively after the town conducted a recent rental property inspection. She added that she wasn't happy that the town could not find some money to provide a modest hike in town employee salaries the next fiscal year.
Councilman Bob Umstead thanked citizens for their input and questions and noted that he believed the people were happy with the direction in which the town was moving. "These decisions are hard to make," he said.
Council member Gayle Hillert noted the successful Heritage Day event and its good attendance, with many families and lots of children taking part. She also thanked Virginia-Review reporter Pam Marshall for a fine story on local firefighters and their training.
Mayor Carl Brinkley thanked everyone for their cards and letters during his recent illness. "It's going to be a long, drawn-out affair," he said. "We do appreciate your opinions and work hard to hold down the cost of operations." He added that he believed the county should increase the number of homes connected to its sewer lines to help hold down the cost of operations over the long term.
During the meeting, the council heard from regular critic Rick LaBleu, who criticized its spending and its proposed hike in water and sewer rate. He later suggested raising the local real estate tax rate a couple cents instead of imposing water and sewer rate hikes, despite being told that the town's general fund (into which a real estate tax rate hike would go) are held separate and distinct from each other. It was his position that since water and sewer services are necessities, many older residents find those costs more difficult to handle. (As a side note, a 1 cent rise in the town's real estate tax rate yields only about $11,000 in general fund revenue.) LeBleu left the speaker's podium muttering, "...sounds like a lot of smoke and mirrors to me."
And surprisingly, it also heard some positive notes from David W. Oeltjen, who praised it for holding down its spending.
The council entered into a closed session for a discussion on a real estate matter after the formal meeting came to an end.
Videos of Burcham, LeBleu and Oeltjen have been uploaded to the Journal's Facebook page: click here to access them. | | | | | |
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