Bethel board backs $150,000 from surplus for wastewater budget

[0:13] Select Board Chair: Welcome to the Joint Budget Committee and Select Board meeting on Wednesday, September 30th at 5 o'clock. I'd like to call the meeting to order. We have a forum this evening with a full select board here, and we're joined by Stephanie Colby and Sharon Jackson, and this is Levi Brown, the budget committee chair. [0:37] Speaker B (unidentified): We also have a quorum. We have five of the nine. [0:41] Select Board Chair: Okay. So we're going to start with the flag salute, so if you could join me in the flag salute. [0:49] Speaker B (unidentified): I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So [1:07] Select Board Chair: thank you all for coming out this evening. We're here to discuss and take action on, to approve a special town meeting warrant particle to use $150,000 from the undescribable balance for the wastewater [1:21] Sharon Jackson: treatment plan so I think I'll start by turning it over to Sharon on your desk I've given you a copy of the wastewater treatment budget the expense and the REVENUE PORTION OF IT AND THE NEXT PAGE IS A COPY FROM THE FISCAL YEAR 2025 AUDIT THAT I'LL BE TALKING ABOUT SO THE REASON WE'RE HERE IS THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT IS AN ENTERPRISE APPOUND IT'S NOT A TOWN DEPARTMENT THEREFORE IT'S ONLY APPROVED BY THE SELECT BOARD BUDGET COMMITTEE DOES NOT REVEAL OR PROVE IT, AND THEN THE REVENUES AND THE EXPENSES HAVE TO BALANCE WHEN THE BUDGET IS PUT TOGETHER. SO IF YOU LOOK AT PAGE 4 IN THE YELLOW LINE WHERE IT SHOWS TOTAL WWTP EXPENSES, THE THIRD COLUMN FROM THE END, $987,045. That's what the fiscal year 27 budget is. So the bottom of that page is the revenue so under fiscal year 27 we are estimating the revenue that will be coming in and two things that I want to point out in this budget that are different from other budgets with the wastewater treatment plan is the addition of two loan payments that we now pay, will start paying this year. If you look at the top of the page 4, it shows, the first column shows where there are X's because that's an account number to be assigned. The USDA $650,000 upgrade loan, we have, this is the first year in fiscal year 27, that payment is going to be made. We will be making 29 payments through fiscal year 20,054. That payment is going to be $32,819 for the next 29 years. The next line shows the $2.2 million upgrade. That is going to be 27 payments for the next 27 years at 120,000. That is going to be 2. So the wastewater treatment expense budget, a small increase overall this year from last year, but the 150,000 really increasing the budget. Last year of the budget was $782,000. So in order to balance this budget, we need $150,000 in addition to the revenues that we're anticipating coming in, which will be coming in from the sewer payments that we'll receive and the SSDC, miscellaneous sewer revenues and miscellaneous receipts on interest. So in order to balance this budget we need $150,000. So the recommendation is to use $150,000. So if you look at statement C that is as of the fiscal year look under the foot towards the bottom this is on page 16 you'll see an unassigned balance of $3,973,618,000. As of our most current audit, that is the amount that we have in undesignated fund balance. So what do we have today? We can't actually give you the exact amount. We can only estimate it because that number is not going to be known. First of all because the fiscal year 26 audit is just starting but we know we have 1.2 million in approved revenue and approved funding that's going to come out of the undesignated fund balance. So if I take off the 1.2 67 that leaves us with the balance in undesignated fund balance of 2705 852 and then with this hundred and fifty thousand we're asking for that's still going to leave us with right now with the two point five million dollar undesignated fund balance at the end of the fiscal year 26 audit more money will go into this account which is going to be the revenue over the expense we don't know what that but I can tell you that the estimated undesignated fund balance as of today based on these numbers so we have scheduled a special town meeting for October 15th to be at the Crescent Park school at 6 o'clock and one of the warrant articles for dollars from the undesignated, the budget committee, and the select board. [7:42] Speaker B (unidentified): Is it a loan or is it a gift? [7:44] Sharon Jackson: It is not a loan and it's not a gift. It is, if this were a town department, we wouldn't be right here because it's an expense just like the other departments are. So with the regular you don't have to what's left in what's budgeted at the end of any fiscal year so this isn't alone and it is not again so it is to balance the wastewater yes [8:33] Speaker B (unidentified): All the taxpayers are paying [8:39] Sharon Jackson: Yes just like the school the school is part of the budget too it's not part of the budget but it's part of what we have to pay. School is law. [8:53] Speaker B (unidentified): To me, this is a gift. If you've been home for how many years now that loan was taken out, why wasn't the user rates increased so when it got to this point? [9:05] Sharon Jackson: So what the selectmen are going to be doing this year, they're going to be working on increasing the sewer rates. That is one thing they're going to be doing. They're also going to be looking at options of maybe the sewer district being a town department that I'm not saying that'll happen but I thought that wasn't an option anymore well it wasn't according to the letter from the USDA they stated is but according to the auditor there's another way to do it in tracking so you may or may not be interested in that I don't know the details I don't know all the details of it yet either but we still have to balance this there are not enough user fees the only other thing is to cut a hundred and fifty thousand dollars out of this budget which action to do the slip would have approved both the Is [10:36] Speaker B (unidentified): this going to be a one-time thing, or is this going to be every year until 2052? It could be. [10:43] Sharon Jackson: It depends on what the expense budget is and what the estimated revenue coming in is. So we definitely know we have that $150,000 that we have to pay in those two loan payments. [11:03] Speaker D (unidentified): I think that as users get on, some of that, you know, hopefully see some revenue come in, but I think one of the things we've been challenged with, this goes back to, in order to get a bunch of big users, extending it down Mabel Road or something, we'd also, I think some of this comes, the way I understand it, is, I mean, essentially, state law is what mandated that plant be built to the size that it is and it's too big for what we have that's always been the issue it's which is good in the sense that you can actually I mean we're getting some new users with the complex down here and we've got talk of maybe something up on by the Kearing house [12:03] Sharon Jackson: that's failed right now that grant failed we are we are looking at adding 38 users from the residences, but we don't know when that's going to come in. [12:17] Speaker E (unidentified): But we did get nine units when they renovated. We did get nine units. [12:21] Sharon Jackson: Yes, and those are accounted for here, but they were looking for a grant that would add users, but Amy last week. [12:37] Speaker D (unidentified): I think the only way to avoid what you're talking about is either hoping that we get an area that we have our water bill for the house down there with three or four people living in it. Our water and septic combined, essentially we got water and sewer for the same price that they got sewer. So that's why I'm hesitant to raise the rates. And I also think that the town white school district there, so there's a background invest, you know, there's your background benefit. I'm not on it, you know. [Select Board Chair: Ideally] we would have more users and it would be a self-sufficient more. [13:53] Speaker E (unidentified): And getting [13:59] Sharon Jackson: more users also increases infrastructure. So that's a cost there. So if you're going to extend lines, that's a cost that's [14:16] Speaker F (unidentified): itself an item. How come we didn't see this at budget time? Is this something that just popped up? [Sharon Jackson: The budget committee...] Why didn't we talk about this spring when we... [14:33] Sharon Jackson: This doesn't go to the budget committee. This is the select board of the only. Why are we here tonight? Because we have a special town meeting warrant and whenever we have a money article on the warrant according to the code the Budget Committee and the site board offer their approval or not approval on approving the money so we have to meet. It's an [15:01] Speaker F (unidentified): impact on the general fund. It's [15:09] Speaker E (unidentified): on a slightly different timetable but to look at this budget is closer to around June 1st but the budget wasn't available until [15:27] Select Board Chair: it's just a different it's yeah but you should have been looking at it you [15:31] Sharon Jackson: should have known it was coming. I would have thought. We knew it was coming. Yeah. I can't say we didn't know that. Why didn't you take care of it then? In what way? Put it in your budget proposal or whatever for the town meeting that we have. So when the rest of the budgets are also due, the wastewater treatment plant isn't due at that time. Why? It's the way it's written in the code. [16:02] Speaker E (unidentified): It's due slightly later, around June 1st or so, in hopes that we would have an approved budget for July 1st of the fiscal year, which the treatment plan is the same as the general plan. But again, it was, I can't speak to why, but it was just, we didn't get to it until about a month ago. [16:28] Sharon Jackson: But it still wouldn't have been ready, even though it's due when it's due in June. That's after the town warrant is prepared. So based on when it's due, we wouldn't have had any numbers to have ready for the town meeting warrant. The plan this year is to have the slug board, because it doesn't say that they can't approve the budget earlier. The plan is going to be to have the slug board approve the wastewater treatment budget the same time the other department. I think it makes sense to have all the budgets approved at the same time. I know here this budget is not approved. It doesn't go to the budget committee, but I think that should be looked at. I think that both the budget committee and the select board should be looking at all the budgets, whether they're enterprise or department. That way you know what the expenses are for the wastewater treatment plant. Otherwise there's no way for you to not be where we are is, I mean, this, there's a lot of options to look at this coming year before the budget is prepared next year. I've always disliked special town [18:04] Speaker F (unidentified): meeting because that special town means you can get anything from them say it's been used in the past but it almost seems like the past town managers that we've had kept stuff out of the perhaps out of the budget and then oh we need a special town meeting to do this and that always gets past like I always look at the time when I first went on the select board we went down to the present park we manipulated 2.5 million dollars we was in and out in 10 minutes well [18:50] Sharon Jackson: I can assure you this was not left out. I'm just saying I don't like special town [18:57] Speaker F (unidentified): town meetings for the fact that you can get any, you can, if you wanted to. [19:03] Speaker B (unidentified): Less than 1% of the people get the vote. [19:04] Sharon Jackson: They should only be used if it's something that comes up that can't wait until town meeting or requires the vote of the people in order to do it before town meeting. [19:18] Speaker B (unidentified): The two years on our own now, last year we used it for the dumpster road. That was the $300,000. I know some of that was paid by the other two towns, around the two towns, but still, it's just too easy when you have an unlicensed aid fund to come in and take money from it. [19:37] Speaker E (unidentified): No, well, that was a situation, just to explain. It was put in, and you all voted on it, and it was supposed to be put in the number for appropriation, and the number that was the total expense number that was given for the tax commitments, it was accidentally forgotten. So it was, it did go through the process, it just, it just missed being put through to get appropriation, and so that's why that was special. Are [20:14] Speaker G (unidentified): there other questions? It took a long time to go through multiple compartments, and I know that we stopped working while we were getting my tax money back. [20:33] Select Board Chair: Everybody just won't laugh. We're using bathrooms all over town, and we wouldn't have stores if we didn't have a store. [20:49] Speaker E (unidentified): One tidbit, if we could eventually get that number, we can't take the time to get here now, is what percent of the total valuation is the sewer, the sewer valuation, people who use the sewer and the valuation that uses the sewer system, what percentage of that is the total? [21:20] Sharon Jackson: 586 was our last count [Speaker H (unidentified): that's bringing in] roughly five thousand dollars. No, if you look at the revenue on page four, the estimated revenue for fiscal year 27 is $780,080. We actually, our actual for fiscal year 26 was $796,760. That is higher because when we took over billing that year, there were a lot of accounts that main rural water had never built, so those are basically supplementals added into that, and beginning in FY 27 we'll see the basic fees taken in, not the additionals that were never billed and paid. Gotcha. [22:19] Speaker I (unidentified): Where does miscellaneous revenue come from? Is that the line I was mistakenly looking at? [22:24] Sharon Jackson: We take in for, do you want to tell the different things that come in for that? [22:31] Speaker G (unidentified): The miscellaneous one, I'm not sure exactly what you're getting at, but really the only other revenues we take in really is for any holding we take. We don't really take septic, but we take holding tank. [22:42] Sharon Jackson: That's what I was talking about. Well, that's what that $5,000 is. The other $5,000 is on interest that we have on the sewer bills. And then when we have the SSDC fees, that is when, like the residences, they have to pay a fee to an installment fee, if you will, $46,965. That's a one-time VOC that actually came in fiscal year 26 that was currently ended but it gets rolled into fiscal year 27 for usage there [23:32] Speaker I (unidentified): so the undesignated fund you said it's like currently at that 3.9 million, yes. And after this it will be? [23:47] Sharon Jackson: That's based on what we approved in fiscal year 26 to take from the undesignated fund balance. And that was to pay the COBLA, the roof on this building, the scale, the contingency, the basement moisture control. We put $400,000 for reducing the mill rate and $100,000 for the bucket loader for the highway department for the airport and the tipping fee for three. [24:42] Select Board Chair: Is there any [24:58] Speaker F (unidentified): way that this can be a self-sustaining paying thing, entity down there? Because what you're doing, the rate payers that are on the system are paying. But everybody else that's not on the system, we get hit twice. We get hit with taxes and then we get hit with this type of stuff. So it's unfair for all the people that live out in the rural areas because we're paying for something that we do not get any benefit from. If [25:34] Sharon Jackson: it's self-sustaining, you have to take in enough revenue from the sewer billing. [25:38] Speaker F (unidentified): And that's what I'm asking, is that ever going to happen? [25:42] Sharon Jackson: Well, the select board are going to be looking at, they're going to be holding workshops to look at increasing sewer rates. Yes or no, I can't say that they will or not. They would have to increase the sewer rates enough to account for [26:01] Select Board Chair: the deficiency. I mean, well, you've already said the rates are extremely high. So it's like, it just seems like a pretty big bill to put on 500 and something. [26:13] Speaker B (unidentified): For 150 grand it would be, what, 300 bucks? 300 bucks? For a year. That would be the increase to each one of the 586 or whatever it was. Well, [26:36] Sharon Jackson: the minimum charge that anyone pays unless they have higher usage based on the usage is $210 a quarter. [26:51] Speaker G (unidentified): There's always different grade structures to look at, you know, a lot of things to look at. Some things will favor, some things won't favor the bigger users. [27:09] Speaker H (unidentified): I think ultimately this isn't sustainable, continuing to pull from the Undesignated Fund to keep this running, I think we can all agree that 's not a sustainable way to move forward so there's many different options on our on the table of what it looks like and I know we have it on the radar the select board to sit down and weigh what it looks like look at the different rate options look at like who's holding the different responsibilities ultimately our goal is not to continue to come back and pull from the undesignated fund not [27:45] Speaker E (unidentified): promising it won't happen but right because this doesn't even reflect a capital the five-year capital plan it's [27:57] Speaker F (unidentified): All part of taxation. Theoretically, taxation is supposed to be fair throughout, and this particular aspect to me is not that, because you're you're you're burdening the non-rate payers, the people that aren't on the system, to supplement the people that are on the system, and might as well just go take $300 and throw it out on the friggin' toilet. Then I'll get just as much benefit out of it. But I still have to pay. [28:30] Speaker D (unidentified): Well, I would say that the counter-argument to that is people who are on the system don't really have a choice. They have to be on the system. [28:39] Speaker B (unidentified): They have a choice when they bought their residence. [28:41] Speaker D (unidentified): It depends on when they bought their residence. [28:43] Speaker B (unidentified): They had a choice. They didn't put the sewer in after they put May Street in. If you buy a house in May Street, you already knew the sewer was there. [28:51] Speaker D (unidentified): They might have in some places. We extended the sewer at Walters Mills Road, didn't we? [28:56] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, down at Telstown. Just Telstown. [28:59] Speaker D (unidentified): But in theory, my understanding is that the sewer goes by your house and you're supposed to connect to it. [29:09] Speaker F (unidentified): No, there's no rule, but I know a rule. [29:12] Speaker G (unidentified): If your building is within 200 feet [Speaker F (unidentified): in our ordinances] and that's kind of where I fall [29:22] Speaker D (unidentified): I mean the rate payers are also we are asking the town to vote on something that the rate payers had no say in that either or very little say because of course the majority of the town are not on the sewer system. So of course they're going to vote those kind of things in because it doesn't affect them. So you've kind of got, you've almost got the opposite of taxation without representation. You have representation without tax. Which isn't, I would rather have that than the other way. Like I said, the town of Bethel makes decisions that affect the sewer department. And they spend money. And it's more than just the rate payers that pay. Correct me if I'm misspeaking in that. And I would also make, we do, like Chief Jodry said, we do all have some benefit, you know, if we go to the, you know, local restaurant or something, we use the bathroom, I mean, I know it's not $300 worth, you know, but. [30:26] Select Board Chair: But that's, $300 is, but $300 is for the rate payers. If you spread it over the whole population, it's a lot less than $300. Right. And I think, like, if we didn't have it, we wouldn't be able to have a main street with. [30:42] Speaker F (unidentified): Well, the conundrum is, the town really cannot afford to expand the system, because years ago when we were looking at putting water and soil out Mayville and out Steemill, out past, almost out to Bethel Auto, was well over a million dollars at that time, and I think it was well over a million dollars for Mayville to get down just past the Alder, whatever it was the condos, it's just not, you just can't do that. But these [31:20] Select Board Chair: loans were for things that we had to have, upgrades that we needed. It wasn't just like frivolous, like, oh, let's expand. It was serious problems that needed to be [31:32] Speaker G (unidentified): 50-year-old equipment, 50-year-old pump stations, a DEV had been back in the well. [31:37] Speaker F (unidentified): When did you make the loans? Okay, so we knew that we had payments coming every year. So my complaint is, why aren't the selectmen looking at that during the budget aspect? They know it's been two years, three years, that they're going to have these all the time. It's nothing that just cropped up. It's something that they should have been looking at anyways. For the budget it [32:06] Speaker E (unidentified): was the second loan for me, the first, the first loan, the increase we knew was coming this fall. Yeah, so when did you make the loan? And at the same time there were two loans coming off of this, so it balanced off. But yeah, I know that second one was what for me putting over the top to China. Yeah, but you did this in the spring, right, [32:29] Speaker F (unidentified): or last year, last year when we kind of looked at it. So you know that the famous to come and do that. We should have been looking at it. We did try to [33:02] Speaker D (unidentified): combine as many articles at once in hopes of generating the biggest, it's popular, and I agree, it is an idea [33:14] Speaker I (unidentified): to me. This reminds me of the situation we faced with kind of like the police force, and now some said that we would revisit it, or the select board and revisit it, try to package it up differently, which ultimately but still could in the future. But to your point, Lee, by the way, you just said kind of what they said, the current path isn't sustainable, so I think we should vote yes probably, but with votes that don't. If you're more sustainable going forward, you kind of have to loan gas. [33:43] Speaker F (unidentified): What's that? You kind of have to loan gas. [33:45] Speaker E (unidentified): It was a recommendation. It's not an approval. You make a recommendation of an amount that you would put there, and that's what goes in front of the public. And I would kind of disagree with the statement about the police department. The board actively tried to pursue different rates, and it wasn't accepted by the commissioners, so yeah, there's there's minutes of the commissioners meetings, there's and it's here of where we took exception to some of the little bitty line items I guess I want so many like the discussion we're [34:53] Speaker D (unidentified): I'll make a motion we recommend the use of $150,000 from untaxed and aided funds to balance a wastewater treatment plan any further [35:06] Select Board Chair: discussion all those in favor Project Committee. Make a motion. President, $150,000.00 are the only living fund balance for the tree website. Second. Discussion? All in favor? [35:27] Speaker B (unidentified): Opposed? Okay. We get you on our side every time, Bob. [35:35] Speaker G (unidentified): Use the math report you leave, Bob. [35:38] Select Board Chair: We can put in a shower. [35:41] Speaker F (unidentified): I'm going to be in here on a regular basis, okay? [35:47] Speaker G (unidentified): I'm going to be just like [35:49] Speaker F (unidentified): on, what the heck's his name there, where he evacuates his bottles every day at 8 o'clock. Big bang journey. Alright. [36:02] Select Board Chair: All right, is there a motion to, I'll make a motion to adjourn, but no,, no, sorry. [36:11] Speaker B (unidentified): I'll make a motion to adjourn. [36:13] Select Board Chair: Second. All those in favor? Is that for everybody or just us? All of you. [36:24] Speaker B (unidentified): So what happens when Norm shows up at the public hearing at 6 o'clock? Or if Micah's the only one that stays here. Then we're over. I hope. [36:33] Speaker H (unidentified): You're not staying? No. Oh, you didn't have to stay until 6. How much longer?