Latest news with #MunicipalSeparateStormSewerSystem
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thurmont reviewing proposed $4.9M general fund budget for fiscal year 2026
Thurmont's Board of Commissioners is considering about $4.9 million in expenses in the town's general fund for fiscal year 2026 — up from about $4.7 million allocated for general fund expenses in the current operating budget. The proposed general fund budget lists revenues for fiscal year 2026 as $5.4 million, more than $250,000 over the revenues budgeted in fiscal year 2025. That leaves a surplus of about $575,000 to use for capital expenses. Some of the largest expenses in the proposed budget include salaries and benefits for the town's departments, information technology costs and street sanitation. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. In fiscal year 2025 up until March 31, the town has spent about $4.1 million and brought in about $3.6 million in revenues, leaving the town with a deficit of about $484,000. In the current fiscal year, Thurmont has paid certain expenses that weren't allocated funds in the approved budget. Those include Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System requirements, general fund capital and construction-in-progress costs, and capital expenses for different departments. The Board of Commissioners reviewed the general fund revenues and expenses for the mayor and commissioners on April 15. The board held another general fund workshop on April 17 to review departmental expenses, as well as chat with some of the divisions about their budgets. The departments included in the general fund budget are administration, planning and zoning, economic development, the police department, crossing guard, parks and recreation, and streets. Thurmont's proposed water and wastewater budgets are separate from the general fund budget and were reviewed by the board on April 8. The wastewater budget lists revenues as $1.9 million and shows a surplus of about $151,989 after paying for expenses. The water budget's revenues are $1.2 million, leaving a surplus of about $292,290 after expenses. Those budgets do not include any changes to water and sewer rates. BUDGET DETAILS Out of all the departments in the proposed general fund, the police department has the highest expenses, totaling just over $2 million. The town administration and streets department have the next highest expenses, totaling about $1.4 million and about $638,000, respectively. Most of the proposed police department budget goes toward salaries, estimated to cost about $1.2 million, up almost $100,000 from what was budgeted for fiscal year 2025. The department employs 15 police officers, a receptionist, an office manager and a staff support administrator. The proposed budget also allocates about $46,500 for communications; $20,000 for camera licenses and maintenance; $20,000 for equipment like mobile radios, fire extinguishers, and in-car printers; and $14,500 for uniforms. Thurmont Police Chief David Armstrong said the police department is fully staffed, meaning it's likely that officers will have fewer overtime hours. He said the free licensing for the town's 38 Turing cameras positioned around the town expires in fiscal year 2025, which is why there's a jump in the costs this coming fiscal year. In the last several months, the cameras have helped the police department solve nine hit-and-run crashes, an assault, a theft, a theft ring, a destruction of property incident, a shooting and an arson event. 'I wanted to be sure that we had sufficient funds in there to continue [to use the cameras],' Armstrong said. The town administration's proposed budget allocates $181,000 to salaries. Its highest expenses are for employee benefits, like health insurance and retirement. The administration expects to spend about $65,000 for information technology expenses, $55,000 for engineering expenses, $40,000 for legal expenses and $34,500 for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System requirements. One line item, 'employee relations,' had $6,000 allocated. These funds go toward things like paid lunches for employees if a supervisor wanted to take their staff out to eat as a reward. The board debated whether to keep this line item where it is. Commissioner Bob Lookingbill said he didn't like having taxpayers' money paying for employees' lunches, while Commissioner Marty Burns said employees should be recognized for their work. Mayor John Kinnaird suggested lowering the allocated funds to $4,000, which the board agreed to. The board also wanted the administration to allocate $750 to the Thurmont Addiction Commission rather than the $500 that was proposed. Under the streets department budget, $181,800 is allocated for salaries. Additionally, $179,000 for sanitation, $160,000 for tipping fees, and $58,000 for street lighting. The smallest budgets are the planning and zoning and the crossing guard budgets. The crossing guard budget consists of about $30,600 for crossing guard salaries. The planning and zoning budget includes about $128,000 in expenses, most of which — $108,000 — goes toward salaries. The town's Planning and Zoning Commission's stipends total $1,500. The Board of Commissioners struck a line item stating that the commission wanted to conduct a traffic study funded by Thurmont, listed as costing $5,000. Kinnaird suggested that the commission ask a developer to expand the traffic study it will conduct to encompass the area the commission wants examined. That way, the developer would be paying for a traffic study, not the town.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MUB to acquire Star City utilities
Mar. 11—MORGANTOWN — Officials with the town of Star City said Tuesday they're ready to turn the town's water and sewer infrastructure — as well as management of its stormwater system — over to the Morgantown Utility Board. MUB General Manager Mike McNulty said the utility is "ready, willing and able " to take it on as soon as the two sides iron out the details. "The town council and the administration has determined that due to the small size of the town of Star City, the town is unable to generate sufficient revenue to finance significant water, sewer, or stormwater capital projects. Surface water entering the town of Star City from an uphill jurisdiction creates significant stormwater management challenges, " Star City Mayor Sharon Doyle said. She later added, "We're just at a point now where we need to start looking to the future. We just can't continue to just go day by day, and then something big happens, and we're left asking 'what do we do now ?'" The town has 945 sewer customers and 17 miles of gravity sewer lines. Its system generates $428, 000 in gross annual revenue. MUB treats all flows out of Star City at its riverside treatment facility, which is located in the town. MUB is the lone treated water provider for Star City's 945 water customers. The water is delivered through 10.5 miles of water main. Water sales generate a gross annual revenue of about $493, 000. There are 877 customers in Star City's MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System). If ultimately finalized, and approved through the West Virginia Public Service Commission, the arrangement would see MUB take complete ownership of all water and sewer lines and facilities. As the state set up stormwater management as a municipal public work, and not a public utility, MUB and Star City will enter into an operations and management agreement that will make MUB the operational agent for the town's stormwater system. Star City's utilities are debt free and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. "It's important to recall that we are interconnected physically. There are 22 interconnection points between MUB and the Star City sewer utility. So physically, this makes sense, " Star City attorney Tim Stranko said. "I visited with you before we talked about harvesting the economies of scope and scale. This is another perfect example of how we can drive costs down for all the customers." Literally one year ago (March 12, 2024), Stranko stood before the utility's board of directors proposing MUB acquire Westover's sanitary sewer system. Stranko also serves as the city attorney for Westover. Westover and MUB currently have an operations and management agreement in place through which MUB is responsible for all customer service, billing and fee collection, system infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, service of all debt, and all other ongoing operations of Westover's system. Once Westover's upcoming Holland Avenue and pump station projects are complete, the two sides will finalize MUB's acquisition of that system. Comparing current rates for the same amount of water, a MUB customer is paying $25.44 and a Star City customer is paying $38.64. On the sewer side, a MUB customer is paying $42.76 and a Star City customer is paying $39.08. MUB's stormwater fees are $7.58 (flat rate) and $3.03 (per 1, 000 square feet). Star City's fees are $5.88 and $2.35, respectively.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MUB to acquire Star City utilities
Mar. 11—MORGANTOWN — Officials with the town of Star City said Tuesday they're ready to turn the town's water and sewer infrastructure — as well as management of its stormwater system — over to the Morgantown Utility Board. MUB General Manager Mike McNulty said the utility is "ready, willing and able " to take it on as soon as the two sides iron out the details. "The town council and the administration has determined that due to the small size of the town of Star City, the town is unable to generate sufficient revenue to finance significant water, sewer, or stormwater capital projects. Surface water entering the town of Star City from an uphill jurisdiction creates significant stormwater management challenges, " Star City Mayor Sharon Doyle said. She later added, "We're just at a point now where we need to start looking to the future. We just can't continue to just go day by day, and then something big happens, and we're left asking 'what do we do now ?'" The town has 945 sewer customers and 17 miles of gravity sewer lines. Its system generates $428, 000 in gross annual revenue. MUB treats all flows out of Star City at its riverside treatment facility, which is located in the town. MUB is the lone treated water provider for Star City's 945 water customers. The water is delivered through 10.5 miles of water main. Water sales generate a gross annual revenue of about $493, 000. There are 877 customers in Star City's MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System). If ultimately finalized, and approved through the West Virginia Public Service Commission, the arrangement would see MUB take complete ownership of all water and sewer lines and facilities. As the state set up stormwater management as a municipal public work, and not a public utility, MUB and Star City will enter into an operations and management agreement that will make MUB the operational agent for the town's stormwater system. Star City's utilities are debt free and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. "It's important to recall that we are interconnected physically. There are 22 interconnection points between MUB and the Star City sewer utility. So physically, this makes sense, " Star City attorney Tim Stranko said. "I visited with you before we talked about harvesting the economies of scope and scale. This is another perfect example of how we can drive costs down for all the customers." Literally one year ago (March 12, 2024), Stranko stood before the utility's board of directors proposing MUB acquire Westover's sanitary sewer system. Stranko also serves as the city attorney for Westover. Westover and MUB currently have an operations and management agreement in place through which MUB is responsible for all customer service, billing and fee collection, system infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, service of all debt, and all other ongoing operations of Westover's system. Once Westover's upcoming Holland Avenue and pump station projects are complete, the two sides will finalize MUB's acquisition of that system. Comparing current rates for the same amount of water, a MUB customer is paying $25.44 and a Star City customer is paying $38.64. On the sewer side, a MUB customer is paying $42.76 and a Star City customer is paying $39.08. MUB's stormwater fees are $7.58 (flat rate) and $3.03 (per 1, 000 square feet). Star City's fees are $5.88 and $2.35, respectively.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Tyler City Council updates Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System
TYLER, Texas (KETK) – Revisions have been made to Tyler's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System MS4 permit to meet regulations from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Tyler City Council approves multi-million contract to increase sewer line capacity 'Our Stormwater Management Program is dedicated to protecting public health, reducing flooding risks and improving water quality in our community,' City of Tyler Stormwater Management and Environmental Compliance Engineer Paul Neuhaus said. Smith County has partnered with the City of Tyler through an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) to implement these new TCEQ requirements. Part of the new agreement includes enhanced GIS mapping coordination for Smith County stormwater sites. GIS stands for Geographic Information System and is a computer system that retains data, and provides performance analytic services to the public. By coordinating on GIS mapping, Tyler and Smith County will be able to manage stormwater better by sharing data which will also help them coordinate permitting, inspection and public education. On Jan. 22, 2024, the Tyler City Council approved a Notice of Intent letter to notify the TCEQ of the city's updated Stormwater Management Plan. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dayton's stormwater management lands national award
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The City of Dayton Department of Water won a national award for its stormwater program. Dayton won the 2024 National Municipal Stormwater and Green Infrastructure MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) Award from the Water Environment Federation. Only six other organizations have won it. 'We're pleased to share the news that our department has once again won this prestigious award from a pool of national candidates,' said Michael Powell, director of the Dayton Department of Water. 'This achievement speaks to the innovative approach our team takes to protect Dayton's water for the community and the environment.' Beloved local rivers such as the Great Miami are protected from pollution by effective stormwater management. The WEF mentioned Dayton, its public awareness campaigns, river clean-ups and the Adopt a Storm Drain program in its Stormwater Report. 'The City of Dayton Department of Water delivers impressive results for the protection of its local waterways while keeping costs low by pursuing an extensive public outreach campaign,' said WEF. Lisa Gleason, a senior manager from WEF's Water Science and Engineering Center, wrote a letter on why the city won. 'After a thorough evaluation by an expert panel of judges, Dayton's program excelled in effectively managing stormwater, surpassing regulatory requirements, and demonstrating a commitment to innovative solutions,' said Gleason. Click here to learn more about stormwater management in Dayton. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
