Milton council to consider next steps on new public works building

As part of its Fiscal Year 2026 budget talks, Milton Town Council will consider options for funding the planning of a new public works facility on Sam Lucas Road after the town did not receive $1.7 million in matching state funds for the project.

The town had previously received $2 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and had applied for matching funds from the state’s Community Redevelopment Reinvestment Fund. 

Town Manager Kristy Rogers told council at its July 21 budget meeting that the town did not receive those matching funds, and it is now up to council to decide what to do next. 

Rogers said options include applying for other grants or the town funding the match. 

“Part of this budget, we need to discuss what we want to do. Are we going to use reserves to match? Are we going to borrow to match? Are we going to return our grant? I don’t know how much longer we can continue to hold onto the federal grant,” Rogers said. 

Different proposals for the facility have been debated for years. One proposal is to have two buildings: One would serve as office and meeting space, with the other for equipment and dry materials storage. Rogers said there is a plan for a one-building facility that just includes a maintenance building and a dry storage facility. She said that proposal would cost $4 million, of which the town already has half. 

Town officials have said the reason for moving the public works headquarters is because the department has outgrown its current facility on Front Street and has increased storage needs. 

The land for a new public works facility was acquired in 2018 when Loblolly LLC gave the town 10 acres of an 80-acre tract of farmland it owns. The original deal included 5 acres for a new wastewater treatment plant and another 5 acres for an unspecified use. 

Since then, Artesian Wastewater purchased Tidewater Utilities, the town’s wastewater provider since 2007, and is building a new plant at its Sussex Regional Recharge Facility on Route 30. Artesian has expressed its intent to pump Milton’s wastewater to that plant. As part of a negotiated settlement with Artesian related to that Tidewater purchase, the land originally slated for Tidewater’s plant will revert back to the town, and Artesian will provide sewer service to the new public works building free of charge. 

In addition to a new public works facility, the town is also planning for a new police station and municipal meeting room to be located on newly acquired town land on Magnolia Street. At one point, town officials had discussed the possibility of putting the new police station on the Sam Lucas Road land, but council decided it’s too far out of town.