Newbern city board adopts 2009-2010 budget

The called meeting took place on Monday night with Vice Mayor Cathy Clements presiding over the meeting in the absence of Mayor K.W. Dennison. With Clements as acting chairperson only two other aldermen were present at the 6:30 p.m. called public meeting time, aldermen Bill Parks and Larry Fesmire. With the absence of aldermen Chris Odom, Bennie Greene and Robert Hart the board did not have enough members present to make a quorum. The presence of four aldermen and a mayor (chairman) is required to make up a quorum for the board.

Greene, who was recuperating at home from a car accident he was in last week, was contacted by Parks by telephone and notified of the situation. Greene had a relative drive him to the meeting to fulfill his civic duty. Hart was out on business and he was contacted and made aware of the lack of a quorum. He too was able to make the meeting. Odom could not be reached and was not present.

After a quorum was established, Newbern City Recorder Jason Roberts read the budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

The revenue and fund balance expected for the upcoming year will be $4,455,616.

* General Fund ($3,525,849) includes: $1,585,500 from local taxes; $642,800 from intra-governmental revenue; $80,100 from fines and forfeitures; $267,800 from miscellaneous revenue and $932,004 from the fund balance.

* State Street Aid ($162,230) includes: $85,000 from intergovernmental revenue; $700 from miscellaneous revenue and $76,530 from the fund balance.

* Drug Fund ($25,580) includes: $7,000 from court fines and costs; $2,500 from miscellaneous revenue and $16,080 from the fund balance.

* Sanitation Fund ($641,918) includes: $332,500 from revenues and $$309,418 from the fund balance.

* Library Fund ($100,039) includes: $75,690 from revenues and $24,349 from the fund balance.

Roberts said the revenue expected to come in would be $3,115,360 and the city would appropriate $3,108,952 to spend. This would leave a surplus of $6,408.

Included in the ordinance was the property tax rate of $1.5087 per $100 of assessed valuation. This is the same tax rate the city had for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

The public meeting was then adjourned and the regular meeting was called to order.

The board then passed the 2009-2010 budget ordinance by unanimous decision in the regular meeting. The budget will take effect on July 1, 2009.

The board then voted to approve a resolution for the city of Newbern Gas System. It would require the gas department to "decrease the existing gas rates to establish adequate funding of the department". The department had determined the new rate design would allow for future changes in the system.

* Urban residential and small commercial - $10.16 minimum bill and an all gas cost of $1.1105 per 100 cubic feet (CCF).

* Rural residential and small commercial - $12.25 minimum bill and an all gas cost of $1.1105 per 100 cubic feet (CCF).

* Large commercial and industrial - Max usage of 0-10,000 would have a minimum bill of $208.78. Max usage of 10,001-20,000 would have a minimum bill of $892.07. Max usage of 20,001-60,000 would have a minimum bill of $1,520.31. The all gas cost would be $1.1105 per 100 cubic feet (CCF).

* Large commercial and industrial/variable rate - Max usage 60,001-100,000 would have a minimum bill of $7,889.29. The all gas cost would have a variable rate dependant upon the NYMEX cost at the time of purchase.

The board approved the resolution by unanimous decision. The rates will take effect on July 1, 2009.

The board then voted to pass an ordinance to establish rates for sewer services provided by the city of Newbern.

The ordinance would amend an earlier agreement between the city of Newbern and Rowe Manufacturing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sara Lee Corporation and its successor Jimmy Dean Foods Inc. This ordinance would help fund the Capacity, Management, Operations and Maintenance (CMOM) program that is required by the state.

It would set the rate of $5.53 per 1,00 for all customers of the city's wastewater department with the exception of Jimmy Dean Foods Inc. An additional charge for residential customers would be $7.50 monthly; commercial customers would be $15 monthly and industrial customers $50 monthly for operating revenues and CMOM.

The sewer rate for Jimmy Dean Foods Inc. would be $49,076.40 each month from July 1, 2009 until June 30, 2010 based upon maximum daily flows of 1 million gallons. This amount includes the CMOM expenditure. The rate will then be amended each year based on Jimmy Dean's revenues and expenditures projected during the annual budget hearings of the city and the sewer department.

The ordinance passed by a unanimous decision.

Next, a resolution for the Newbern Rural Waterworks System was put before the board. Resolution No. 09/12 was read by Roberts. It stated the board and the city had "determined an increase in the (water) rates established for the sale of water to customers of the Newbern Rural Waterworks System is required to adequately fund the continued operation" of the system.

The water charge would be $5.18 per 1,000 gallons. The base charge for a three-quarter-inch meter would be $7.42; a 1-inch meter would be $12.72; a 2-inch meter would be $14.84 and a 4-inch meter would be $23.32. Included in the ordinance is the cost of making a new connection or relocating existing connections. That cost would be $450 for a line side and $600 for a road bore with a three-quarter-inch water tap. A 1-inch water tap is an additional $100 and a 2-inch water tap or larger would be the actual cost of materials used.

The resolution passed by unanimous decision.

The final item on the agenda was a bid opening for a 750KBA pad mount transformer for the McDonald's restaurant being built.

The bids were:

Bates Bearing - $16,538.89; HD Supply - (Cooper-$12,320), (Vantran-$17,115) and (Pauwels-$10,951); Utilicor - $12,566 and Irby $11,187.

Newbern Electric Department Supervisor said the Pauwels bid would be sufficient and the Cooper unit was the only one that didn't meet the specs.

The board then approved the Pauwels bid by unanimous decision.

Newbern Utilities Office Manager Rosalind Green announced to the board a presentation concerning sewer procedures would take place on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in the Newbern City Hall Courtroom and invited anyone that was interested to attend.