Milton council tables budget until September

Milton Town Council unanimously voted to table the fiscal year 2019 budget until council’s Monday, Sept. 10 meeting.

Council postponed voting on the $2 million budget to further discuss two items: a $15,000 wood chipper for the public works department and a $26,000 water-meter test bench, which allows multiple water meters to be tested at once.

Town Manager Kristy Rogers said the town has surplus revenue to pay for the two items, which were requested by department heads. Even with the two purchases, the budget shows a surplus of nearly $2,000 in 2019.

Regarding the wood chipper, Councilman Emory West said the town should first explore whether the town could rent a wood chipper instead of buying one.

On the test bench, finance committee member Steve Crawford gave a presentation to council recommending the $26,000 bench, explaining the bench would allow for testing every water meter in town and would give a certified result, meaning if the meter were tested elsewhere, the result would be the same.

Mayor Ted Kanakos questioned whether the town would be better served saving money by purchasing a $12,000 bench. But Crawford said that bench would not allow all town meters to be tested, would not provide a certified result and could potentially lead to litigation from residents disagreeing with the result of their test.

“If the town tests my meter, I want to make sure it is a certified test,” Crawford said.

Public Works Supervisor Greg Wingo said in the past, all town meter tests have been certified.

Wingo said there are 1,500 meters in town. Faulty heads have been covered under warranty or repaired; Wingo said with the test bench, he can repair more meters.

Kanakos said in his talks with Wingo prior to the Aug. 20 meeting, the supervisor indicated the $12,000 test bench would be OK and the wood chipper would not be included in the budget. But, he said, when the new draft was presented to council, both items were back in. Wingo said he had mentioned both items to Kanakos in their discussions.

West said, “I was under the assumption that the cheaper test bench was going to do everything we needed done.”

Councilman Sam Garde said he was inclined to accept the finance committee’s recommendation.

Kanakos remained skeptical.

“I still have problems with whether it’s cost-effective,” he said.

Council agreed to reset the town’s annexation fee, as recommended by consultants KCI. The town’s fee had been $400 to apply plus an $8,000 fee per acre. KCI, represented by planner Debbie Pfeil, recommended a $3,900 application fee and $5,000 held in escrow for administrative costs with no fee per acre. The lower fees would be designed to encourage prospects and to make the town’s fees more in line with neighboring municipalities. Pfeil said at a prior meeting that annexation fees are generally not a revenue generator.