Milton council approves budget

At its Sept. 10 meeting, Milton Town Council unanimously approved the town’s $2 million fiscal year 2019 budget. The new budget will go into effect Monday, Oct. 1. The budget shows the town running a $2,300 surplus.

Council tabled a vote on the budget after disagreeing on three items at their Aug. 20 meeting: a new street sweeper, a new wood chipper and a water meter test bench. Those items were to be purchased using surplus funds, but council asked Town Manager Kristy Rogers to investigate the cost of renting a wood chipper and street sweeper, and whether a more expensive test bench that would allow for a certified test of the town’s water meters would be more worthwhile. A certified test means that no matter where the meter is tested, the results would be the same.

In her report to the council Sept. 10, Rogers said the annual cost to contract a street sweeper would be $7,995 per use. Rogers said if the town were to sweep six times a year, the total cost would be $47,000. Purchasing the street sweeper would be $39,000, she said. On the wood chipper, to rent a 6-inch chipper nine weeks of the year would cost $6,100. She said hauling yard waste for disposal would add $7,700 in vehicle costs. The price of buying a wood chipper would be $15,400.

Council had been debating purchase of a $26,000 water meter test bench that would allow for testing every water meter in town or a $12,000 bench that would be cheaper, but the results would not be certified. The town’s finance committee recommended buying the more expensive bench.

Councilman Emory West recommended buying the certified test bench this year and delaying purchase of the wood chipper and street sweeper until next year. He said for this year, the town would be better served renting a wood chipper because it is less expensive to maintain. Mayor Ted Kanakos agreed with West’s proposal, as did the rest of the council.

Kanakos said he thought the budget process could have been better. He said department heads brought requests for funding items late in the game, forcing Rogers and council to have to rush to research the costs and benefits.

“This should all have been in place a long time ago,” Kanakos said.

Still, Kanakos said he likes the budget and voted to approve it.

“We have a great budget. We are operating within our means,” he said.

Council also approved three fee changes for this year’s budget. The first changes the town’s annexation fee, previously a $400 application fee plus $8,000 per acre. It will now require a $3,900 application fee, with $5,000 held in escrow for administrative costs but no fee per acre.

The town will also be raising its trash fees from $54 per quarter to $56 per quarter and charging a $50 fee per hour for use of police staff for events.