NFCMA to apply surplus toward projects
DUNBAR TWP. – A $1,724,960 surplus revealed in the 2003-2004 preliminary budget of the North Fayette County Municipal Authority will be used to help fund an extensive list of capital addition projects totaling $550,000. The authority on Tuesday unveiled next year’s budget that calls for $4,947,560 in revenue and $3,222,600 in expenses. With the additional $1.7 million, the authority plans to apply $1,115,704 toward debt service, leaving $609,256 for 18 capital additions.
Of that figure, $59,256 will be deposited into the authority’s improvement reserve fund.
According to the 2003-2004 budget, the authority expects to receive $3,416,400 from residential metered sales and $398,400 from commercial metered sales in addition to $44,400 from industrial customers. Another $62,400 will come from other sales to public authorities.
Bob Softcheck, authority manager, reported the authority provides water to 14,223 customers and has 826 fire hydrants.
While water sales to Pennsylvania American Water Company (PAWC) are down, the authority still expects to receive $708,000, opposed to $842,400 in 2002-2003. Other water sales include $138,000 to Mountain Water Association, up from $85,200 in 2002-2003, $12,000 to Redstone Water Company and $18,000 to Jefferson Township Water Company.
Aside from PAWC, the authority also lost revenue from Pleasant Valley Water Company.
Topping the capital additions list is a $120,000 project that involves relocating the South Union Township booster station on Dixon Boulevard to an intersection near Hague Lane and Walnut Hill Road.
Softcheck said the current booster station is located underground, making it hard to maintain. “It’s an awkward place to have it and the system is aging,” said Softcheck.
The authority also plans to spend $103,000 for the purchase of four trucks, while two separate investments of $40,000 each are being applied toward a Fayette County Resource Study and PAWC’s Operations and Maintenance manual.
Softcheck added the funding for the study is part of the of the authority’s ongoing commitment to halt a water reallocation request from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County for more water from the Youghiogheny River.
As far as the manual, Softcheck said there are still outstanding charges.
The authority also plans to address a $30,000 water line extension project that was on last year’s list. The extension includes the installation of a 6-inch line from Limestone Hill along State Route 201, beginning at Skylark Drive and extending toward Falls Avenue in Connellsville.
The authority plans to adopt a final budget next month.
In an unrelated matter, the authority agreed to grant a 2 percent wage increase for the manager and union employees following a short executive session with the exception of the secretary’s salary that was set at $52,000.
The increase is based on labor agreement in which the CPI Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers averaged at 1.62 percent.
Those employees that received the raises include working foreman, which had the highest pay increase from $21.77 to $22.21 per hour, followed by machine operator, utility man, service man, meter reader, laborer, head pumper, pumpers with Class “A,” “B,” and “C” certifications, pumper and filter operator, apprentice laborer and apprentice pumper and filter operator at the bottom of the pay scale from $11.90 to 12.14 per hour.
Softcheck said the raises are never less than 2 percent nor greater than 5 percent.