Council focusing on sewer bond

The county has a plan to help out residents who are dealing with sewer costs. Now officials just have to iron out the details.

After about an hour-long discussion Wednesday, Jay County Council settled on taking over payment of the bond for Jay County Regional Sewer District.

Council also approved the 2019 budget on first reading.

The decision by council members Wednesday to work to take over the bond payment — on a recurring basis or in a single lump sum — is the latest step in an ongoing effort to provide the district’s about 70 customers with some financial relief. The district board approved increases in February that will push rates for Dunkirk area residents to $101.85 on Jan. 1 and for Portland area residents to $92.80 by 2021. (The rates are different because they are based on sewer rates for each city.)

Jay County Commissioner Barry Hudson presented a plan to council last week that called for  streamlined maintenance and reporting systems, commissioners and council members to take seats on the sewer district board, continued checks on meter readings in Dunkirk, a review of charges from the cities of Portland and Dunkirk and subsidizing bills for sewer district customers in the Dunkirk area to the tune of $20 per month.

It was that last aspect — the financial commitment — that council members discussed in depth Wednesday, settling on a plan to take over payment of the $555,000 remaining on the bond for the sewer system. Sewer district customers pay $27.21 each month for debt service on the bond. (Council members last week had balked at the idea of providing financial assistance for some customers and not others.)

The question now is where the county will pull money from in order to fulfill that financial commitment, with council members suggesting that economic development income tax (EDIT) funds be tapped. The county’s infrastructure fund is also an option.

Council has the option of either continuing to make the scheduled bond payments or paying off the bond in full.

As part of the plan, council members also agree that the county should approach the cities to ask them if they would be willing to take over ownership of the sewer systems after the bonds for the infrastructure have been paid off.

Council president Jeanne Houchins plans to visit Monday’s commissioners meeting to discuss the plan and what steps need to be taken next.

The county has provided $75,000 in loans since 2013 to help the sewer district pay its bills. That’s on top of nearly $350,000 in start-up costs as the sewer district was created.

The first reading of the county’s 2019 budget showed it at a total of $18,197,665, which is up $1.72 million — about 9.41 percent — from the current year.

It includes $8.06 million in the general fund, $4.28 million in the highway fund and $1.31 million in the emergency ambulance/medical services fund.

The largest increases to the budget are for the highway department, insurance and raises.

The highway department is requesting a jump of nearly $300,000 to accommodate additional road maintenance and to pay for a software upgrade to track department finances. Commissioners also asked for an increase of nearly $300,000 for insurance because of expected price increases as the county has seen claims outpace premiums by more than 20 percent this year.

The budget also includes raises for county employees ranging from 1 to 5 percent for an overall increase of about $110,000.

The second reading of the budget is slated for Oct. 10 during council’s regular meeting.

Council members Gary Theurer, Faron Parr, Cindy Newton, Mike Rockwell, Amy Runyon Barrett and Houchins, absent Ted Champ, also had a brief discussion about its overall financial position after auditor Anna Culy said she expects the year-end cash balance in the general fund to clear the $2 million mark. That would be up from $1.98 million at the close of 2017.

The county has built up its general fund balance over the last few years after it had dipped to $289,381 at the end of 2014. Culy recommended continuing to build the general fund balance before moving money to the rainy day fund in order to build some stability and avoid situations such as what occurred during the 2015 budget process, when council had to pull $500,000 from the rainy day fund for 2016 operating expenses.