(May 11, 2017) The Pocomoke City Council discussed the following items during a meeting on Monday night at City Hall.
Tax rates
The council held a first reading to review tax rates for various classes of property for fiscal year 2018.
The rate is calculated per $100 of assessed value for each property classification.
The proposed rate for owner-occupied residential property is $0.9375, while the rate for other real property would be $1.1311. Personal property would be taxed at a rate of $2 per $100 of assessed value. Taxed at this same rate would be railroads and ordinary business corporations, excluding manufactured inventory and the first $125,000 of commercial assessed inventory.
Public utilities would be set at a rate of $2.40. Equipment used in manufacturing would be taxed at a rate of $1 per $100 of assessed value.
The rates will be up for a second reading and approval during a council meeting on May 22 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall on 101 Clarke Avenue.
Emergency pumps
The council voted to approve payment of more than $26,000 for two emergency bypass pumps to address recent failures at the main pumping station on Clarke Avenue.
The Delmar-based environmental contractor CES set up the first of two pumps in early February because of city wastewater pump failures. The work involved pumping out the pumping station and hauling the wastewater to a lagoon.
Use of the emergency pumps cost more than $11,000 each, with an addition charge of about $3,900 to install and later remove the equipment.
Mayor Bruce Morrison asked if the total was more than originally anticipated.
“We discussed this before and we were thinking it was going to be like $22,000,” Morrison said.
City Manager Ernie Crofoot confirmed that the cost to address the pump failures was more than initially projected.
“Our estimate was a little under [the final amount],” he said.
MDE Fine
Crofoot informed the council about a $1,600 fine assessed by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for a handful of recent wastewater spills in Pocomoke.
“We received from MDE a notice of violation and a proposed fine,” he said. “We had five [wastewater] spills, fairly minor, but with respect to two of those spills they believe they need to assess a fine.”
The council is not required to vote for approval of expenditures under $25,000.
Ambulance driver fee
Crofoot informed the council about a recent letter Pocomoke received from the Snow Hill Volunteer Fire Company looking to establish a fee schedule for occasionally lending the town an ambulance driver.
“Apparently Snow Hill provides a driver for us every now and then and there is a fee from the county that’s paid for these services,” he said. “If it’s our ambulance we get the fee.”
Pocomoke EMS Director Michael Thornton said in previous years Snow Hill followed a different procedure.
“Prior to that they were bringing an ambulance down here and taking the call, which we wouldn’t get a penny,” he said. “If they transport the patient they bill.”
Thornton further explained that when Snow Hill’s Volunteer Fire Company began experiencing its own staffing challenges the policy was altered.
“If we put a third person on they would just send a driver down here,” he said. “We would transport the patient [and] we would get all the benefits and of course they would be out a driver.”
In this scenario the Snow Hill Volunteer Fire Company would not receive any compensation from the county, Thornton said.
“All they want is $150 for every time they send one person down here to take a call,” he said.
Thornton said that Pocomoke would stand to gain financially from the arrangement since the charge for an ambulance run can run between $800 and $1,600 dollars.
Morrison, while acknowledging the financial numbers sounded favorable, said the council should investigate the matter in more detail.
“My recommendation is we need to research this a little bit more before we jump in and just start paying them because they asked us,” he said.
Tax rates
The council held a first reading to review tax rates for various classes of property for fiscal year 2018.
The rate is calculated per $100 of assessed value for each property classification.
The proposed rate for owner-occupied residential property is $0.9375, while the rate for other real property would be $1.1311. Personal property would be taxed at a rate of $2 per $100 of assessed value. Taxed at this same rate would be railroads and ordinary business corporations, excluding manufactured inventory and the first $125,000 of commercial assessed inventory.
Public utilities would be set at a rate of $2.40. Equipment used in manufacturing would be taxed at a rate of $1 per $100 of assessed value.
The rates will be up for a second reading and approval during a council meeting on May 22 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall on 101 Clarke Avenue.
Emergency pumps
The council voted to approve payment of more than $26,000 for two emergency bypass pumps to address recent failures at the main pumping station on Clarke Avenue.
The Delmar-based environmental contractor CES set up the first of two pumps in early February because of city wastewater pump failures. The work involved pumping out the pumping station and hauling the wastewater to a lagoon.
Use of the emergency pumps cost more than $11,000 each, with an addition charge of about $3,900 to install and later remove the equipment.
Mayor Bruce Morrison asked if the total was more than originally anticipated.
“We discussed this before and we were thinking it was going to be like $22,000,” Morrison said.
City Manager Ernie Crofoot confirmed that the cost to address the pump failures was more than initially projected.
“Our estimate was a little under [the final amount],” he said.
MDE Fine
Crofoot informed the council about a $1,600 fine assessed by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for a handful of recent wastewater spills in Pocomoke.
“We received from MDE a notice of violation and a proposed fine,” he said. “We had five [wastewater] spills, fairly minor, but with respect to two of those spills they believe they need to assess a fine.”
The council is not required to vote for approval of expenditures under $25,000.
Ambulance driver fee
Crofoot informed the council about a recent letter Pocomoke received from the Snow Hill Volunteer Fire Company looking to establish a fee schedule for occasionally lending the town an ambulance driver.
“Apparently Snow Hill provides a driver for us every now and then and there is a fee from the county that’s paid for these services,” he said. “If it’s our ambulance we get the fee.”
Pocomoke EMS Director Michael Thornton said in previous years Snow Hill followed a different procedure.
“Prior to that they were bringing an ambulance down here and taking the call, which we wouldn’t get a penny,” he said. “If they transport the patient they bill.”
Thornton further explained that when Snow Hill’s Volunteer Fire Company began experiencing its own staffing challenges the policy was altered.
“If we put a third person on they would just send a driver down here,” he said. “We would transport the patient [and] we would get all the benefits and of course they would be out a driver.”
In this scenario the Snow Hill Volunteer Fire Company would not receive any compensation from the county, Thornton said.
“All they want is $150 for every time they send one person down here to take a call,” he said.
Thornton said that Pocomoke would stand to gain financially from the arrangement since the charge for an ambulance run can run between $800 and $1,600 dollars.
Morrison, while acknowledging the financial numbers sounded favorable, said the council should investigate the matter in more detail.
“My recommendation is we need to research this a little bit more before we jump in and just start paying them because they asked us,” he said.