By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer
(May 14, 2020) The Berlin mayor and Town Council considered but took no action on a proposed $50 increase in stormwater utilities for residential properties and $10 increase for commercial properties at its meeting on Monday.
Members of the council listened to a stormwater utilities presentation that explained the history of the budget, what projects have been completed and what future projects the town has and revenues produced by the fees.
The presentation was made by EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc. representative Darl Kolar.
The stormwater utility was created by the town in 2013, and receives its funding from the fees based on the equivalent residential unit (ERU), which is comprised of 2,100 square feet of “impervious surfaces.” In previous years, the fees for residential ERUs was $50 per ERU and $25 for nonresidential, or commercial, ERUs.
Since the utility was created in 2013, the program has completed eight projects since 2014, with the latest project being completed in December 2019, Kolar said.
These projects include replacing box culverts with natural stones and boulders on West Street (2014); creating a wetland along Hudson Branch for water quality (2016); installing two culverts on Flower Street (2017); an emergency storm drain replacement on West Street (2017); creating an additional wetland along Hudson Branch through William Street (2017); stormwater improvements in the area of William Street to the intersection of Graham Ave. and Nelson Street (2018) and created a gravel submerged wetland on Graham Ave. (2019).
The overall capital costs for these eight projects was $2,273,000, with a majority of the funds coming from FEMA or Department of Natural Resources grants.
The program has four additional projects it plans to complete, begin or create the concept layout. Many of the later projects will heavily rely on grant applications to receive the funding needed to finish the job, Kolar said, with the estimated total budget being $3.7 million.
The costliest project is a storm drain replacement for the intersection of West Street and Abby Lane at an estimated budget of $1.8 million. However, the council agreed it would be best to try and break up the project into smaller phases in order to use funding from grants and alleviate the financial burden for the town.
According to Kolar, the initial annual revenue estimation for 2019-20 was $70,000 for residential ERUs and $200,000 for nonresidential ERUs and an additional $300,000 from the general funds.
The actual budget for 2019-2020 saw revenues of $169,550 and expenses of $129,550 with available capital funds of $40,000.
Councilmember Zackery Tyndall expressed concern about an unreported $100,000 that was not mentioned in the presentation.
“The other $100,000 is when the utility was established,” Kolar said. “It was the ERUs for residential [fees]. When we were going through the utility, we decided that for the nonresidential, $50 ERU would be very stressful on those businesses, so the town decided to [reduce] their ERU. So, the actual revenue that was collected was $100,000 down, which was that decision.”
The initial estimates included the $100,000 that did not actually happen, Financial Director Natalie Saleh explained.
The proposed increase of $50 for each ERU would provide the town with an estimated additional $75,200. EA offered two options for an increase of $10 for nonresidential stormwater utility fees for an increase in revenue by $41,000 or a $15 increase for an estimated additional revenue of $61,500. These numbers were based off audited results from the previous years.