The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/689790
A-2 Front Wednesday, June 8, 2016 The Press-Dispatch COUNCIL Continued from page 1 PRISONERS Continued from page 1 618 E MAIN, PETERSBURG M-F 8am-5pm SAT 8am-2pm SPECIALS Cut Out and Place on Fridge! 11AM-2PM *Your Choice of Regular Coffee, Tea or Coke Product. /CakesAndCoffeeCafe OPEN daily lunch WED JUNE 8 WED JUNE 15 THUR JUNE 9 FRI 10 SAT JUNE 11 JUNE TUES 14 JUNE MON 13 Chef Salad $ 7.99 with Ham, Turkey and Bacon with Parmesan Baked Potato Wedge, Fruit Cup and Drink * Chef Salad $ 7.99 with Ham, Turkey and Bacon with Parmesan Baked Potato Wedge, Fruit Cup and Drink * BLT $ 7.99 Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato with Your Choice of Side, Fruit Cup and Drink* Roast Beef Manhattan $ 7.99 Green Beans and Drink * Homemade Waffles $ 7.99 Topped with Real Butter, Syrup and/or Fresh Strawberries, Two Eggs (Any Style), Fruit Cup and Drink* Coney Dog $ 7.99 Merkley Hot Dog with Your Choice of Side, Fresh-Baked Pound Cake Topped with Homegrown Strawberries and Whipped Cream, and Drink.* cafe & cakes cof fee cafe In a Hurry? Call 812-354-2004! dine in or carry out Chicken Salad $ 6.99 on Croissant with Your Choice of Side, Fruit Cup and Drink * Order Your Cheesecake for Father's Day Deadline is June 11, 2016 Private Party Rooms for Up to 20 GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE 812-254-FORD (3673) 1-800-829-0212 Sales Hours: M-F: 8-7, Sat 8-4 • Service Hours: M-F: 8-5 • 15 S. Meridian St., Washington, IN 47501 Bill Dobson A Dobson Deal is a Better Deal. June 11 8am-3pm FORD MAKES ONLY (Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Edsel) Registration begins at 8am with the cut off at Noon! 50 award plaques will start being handed out at 3pm! COST FOR REGISTRATION: $ 15 per vehicle LOCATION: 15 S. Meridian St., Washington, IN 47501 EVENTS: Live Radio, Vendors, T-shirts and more! 1st 100 registrations receive Dash Plaques! www.billdobson.com 2nd Annual CA R SH O W ! Bill Do on Ford's Bring in non-perishable food items, to help fill up a pick-up truck bed for those in need. Feed My Sheep Deen Rogers, CPA, of Um- baugh & Associates. Rogers reminded the council that it had raised wa- ter rates by 30 percent last June, resulting in the wa- ter utility's operating cash balance increasing from $47,655 at the end of 2014 to $131,325 at the end of 2015. Rogers said that the mid- year water rate increase was also reflected in the wa- ter utility's total cash invest- ments. "At the end of 2013, you were about $492,000," Rog- ers told the council. "We were experiencing some losses at that time ... so (the) cash balance went down in 2014 to $457,000. But with that rate adjustment, that trend has been reversed, and it was at $559,705 at the end of 2015." The report forecasts the city will receive revenues from metered sales of ap- proximately $ 970,100 in 2016 – up from approxi- mately $ 857,383 in 2015 and $751,068 in 2014. "It wouldn't surprise me if it's a little bit higher than that," Rogers said. "We based that off what I would consider a conservative 2015 because of the weather fac- tor. So I would consider that a conservative look at your metered sales." Rogers noted that the water utility is expected to experience an increase in cash or cash equivalents of $108,000 in 2016 and $ 98,400 in 2017 as a result of last summer's water rate increase. "You may be seeing that and thinking, 'Geez, did we increase our rates too much?,'" Rogers said. "A couple of things to consider: In the rate study, we did in- clude a decent allowance for periodic maintenance – tank maintenance, filter media replacement, those things that don't occur every year – so that's not a part of what you see in the activity here in 2016 and 2017. That peri- odic maintenance allowance was $ 64,500 per year. That allows you to build up some cash balances so that when those things occur, you have the money to do it." Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch reminded the city council that the study that provided it with justification for the water rate increase assumed between $ 60,000 and $ 65,000 for mainte- nance, per year, at the wa- ter plant. "We really have not had a cost for that maintenance against that," Klipsch said. "So if you were to factor in the $ 60,000 to $ 65,000, op- posite that increase, you would see that's a little more realistic number." Rogers also noted that the city's annual bond payments – for bonds issued in 2000 and 2011 – will fall from about $230,000 per year to approximately $ 95,000 per year when the 2000 bond is- sue is paid off on or before Dec. 21, 2019. "So you do have some ca- pacity, besides the positive cash flow, opening up here if you do have additional debt coming down the road to wrap that additional debt structure around your ex- isting structure, while min- imizing rate impact," Rog- ers said. Klipsch reminded the city council that Midwest- ern Engineers, Inc., is cur- rently conducting a study of the city's water plant, which will likely result in recom- mendations to rehabilitate or replace it. "We obviously don't know the results of this study, but we have a pretty good idea what it's going to tell us," Klipsch said. "It's a very old facility and with the expan- sion we expect here at I-69 and also from Pike-Gibson – they're wanting to expand and they're, of course, a big customer of ours – I would expect we're going to see some pretty large numbers coming around the corner." Rogers told the city coun- cil that the approximately $135,000 in savings when the 2000 bond issue is paid off could support a new bond issue of "roughly" $2 mil- lion. "It depends on your inter- est rate, but you could slide about $2 million in there and basically keep your debt service level at around $230,000," Rogers said. The report regarding the city's sewage works was not quite as positive, however, as Rogers noted that customer collections fell to $ 626,413 in 2015 from $ 646,538 in 2014. "Your customer collec- tions dropped by about $20,000 between 2014 and 2015," Rogers said. "I don't know if there's other issues affecting that, but I suspect the majority of the reason for that is the weather pat- tern. I suspect if we went back and looked at 2012, it'd be your highest revenue of them all, because 2012 was a very dry, hot sum- mer. We saw that around the state, too, that revenues just spiked for utilities." Rogers told the coun- cil that it was being fore- cast that the city's sewage works would have customer receipts totaling $ 626,400 in both 2016 and 2017. "We based it off of 2015, and I think we're being ul- tra-conservative," Rogers said. "I like to be that way from an accounting perspec- tive, so that's what we've do- ne here. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we do see custom- er collections exceed these forecasted amounts in 2016 and 2017." The sewage works, Rog- ers noted, is forecast to have a $7,500 increase in cash and cash equivalents during 2016, while it is ex- pected to experience a loss of $ 9,300 in 2017. "That's not something that's alarming to me," Rogers said. "You're kind of right at break-even with what I believe to be very conservative estimates. So, to me, this doesn't come as a surprise." Rogers noted that the last time the city had increased sewage rates was in 2011. "We generally recom- mend rate studies every three to five years," Rog- ers said. "You're right in that range. I think the re- funding that was done kind of bought you some extra time. So I think you're near- ing that break-even point again. I would still probably let it ride. Let's do this next year and see where you are, see if revenues do rebound from that mild summer of 2015." In other business, Klipsch advised the city council that he would be presenting the city's plan for its downtown revitalization project to IN- DOT at 9:30 a.m. June 28 at its office in Vincennes. "So we'll be making our case for the Call for Proj- ects," Klipsch said. "We will have consultants with us and maps and plans and drawings and I'll do the best that I can." The council also voted to accept the recommendation from the city's Board of Pub- lic Works and Safety to add Colt Walker to the Peters- burg Volunteer Fire Depart- ment as a firefighter. Earlier, the Petersburg Water Company's board of directors voted to hire Pre- ferred Tank & Tower Com- pany of Henderson, Ky., to inspect the city's two above- ground water tanks, as well as the clear well at the wa- ter plant for a total cost of $1,995. Sheriff Britton said the jail now has capability for families of prisoners to do their visitation over the in- ternet. Family members of Vanderburgh County resi- dents can pay a fee and get set up to do their visits on line. "It will basically be the same as if they were here," said Britton. He explained family members may now visit with prisoners by view- ing them on a monitor and talking to them, similar to a local closed circuit skype. CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE FOR BRIDGE 147 ANNOUNCED County Bridge 147 over the Patoka River just south of Winslow on CR350E is be- ing replaced this year. The bridge has been closed for several years as the county waded through federal aid red tape. The contract was let last Fall to CLR Inc. Pike County Highway Superintendent Roger Ham presented that schedule to commissioners Monday morning. Initial work start- ed on the bridge in March. Dirt work started recent- ly. The old steel truss and wooden floor bridge is scheduled to be removed in August with installation of the new substructure start- ing in late August and the beams being set in late Oc- tober. Installation of the su- perstructure is supposed to be completed by late Decem- ber and it should be complet- ed by January. In other business, the commissioner opened one bid for a used ambulance the county advertised for sale. Commissioner Assistant said the only bid was from Conley Safety in Indianap- olis. Their bid was $ 3,100 for the ambulance as it was, when they review it and on- ly if it will start and run up- on time of delivery. The commissioners voted 3-0 to approve it. • Commissioners ap- proved County Assessor Mike Goodpaster's office purchasing a new software system. Goodpaster said it combined the two-vendor system into one software package from the same ven- dor, X-Soft. He said other assessors around the state claimed it was "night and day" better than what they had been using. • Approved requesting a $ 60,000 additional appropri- ation for rock by a 3-0 vote. The next commissioner meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 20 in the courthouse auditorium. A Daviess County man was arrested on a charge of possession of methamphet- amine after the car he was riding in was stopped for speeding. David Edwards, 30, of Pla- inville was arrested by Indi- ana State Troopers Paul Bas- tin and John Davis at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, June 3. Trooper Bastin said he stopped a vehicle driving 89 mph in a 70 mph zone near mile marker 42 on I- 69. Trooper Bastin said the driver was cited for speed- ing. During a search of the vehicle by Trooper Davis po- lice found a meth pipe and a small amount of metham- phetamine under the pas- senger seat. Edwards was taken into custody and transported to the Pike County Jail. Speeding violation leads to meth arrest County Bridge 147, which spans the Patoka River on CR350E just south of Winslow is being replaced. Dirt work at the bridge began this week after several years of the project working its way through the fed- eral aid process. Pike County will pay 20 percent of the project the federal government will pay 80 per- cent of the project. It is scheduled to be completed by January 2017. The bridge has been closed for sev- eral years.