The Emporia City Commission on Wednesday morning approved applications for five projects that might qualify for federal stimulus money under the Surface Transportation Program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The applications, due Friday, are an attempt to capture some of the approximately $11 million being offered in District 1 by the Kansas Department of Transportation as part of the act.
The commission approved the following projects:
• Construct 24th Avenue from Prairie Street west to the east property line of the proposed Lowe’s development. The amount of the grant application is $1,074,972. Estimated cost to the city for design, right of way and utility relocation is $149,000.
• Mill and overlay Graphic Arts Road between West Sixth Avenue and U.S. Highway 50. The amount of the grant application is $242,941. Estimated cost to the city for design is $7,500.
• Mill and overlay West South Avenue between Prairie and West streets. The amount of the grant application is $365,132. The design cost for the city is estimated to be $11,000.
• Mill and overlay East Street between Third and Logan avenues. The application requests a $256,807 grant. Design cost for the city is estimated to be $8,000.
• Mill and overlay Whildin Street between Eighth and 12th avenues. The amount of the grant application is $186,641. Design cost for the city is estimated to be $6,000. As part of the project, the city would have to relocate the existing 10-inch water main from under the street to the east right-of-way behind the curb before Dec. 1, as required by the KDOT STP fund. The city would have to pay the cost of the relocation, estimated at $300,000.
The commission voted 4-0 to approve the applications. Mayor Bobbie Agler was not present at the meeting.
After the vote, the meeting was adjourned to the commission’s regular study session. During the session, commissioners compared the 2009 budget to actual figures for the water, sewer and solid waste funds.
The Tyson layoffs and the economic downturn led to reduced revenues in the utility funds for 2008. Water sales for the city ended up $167,394 less than was budgeted for last year.
“We were projecting a loss in water sales in ’08 for our estimated actuals, and they actually came in less than that,” City Manager Matt Zimmerman said. “Since then, for the first two months of ’09, water sales are off another 15 percent from that lower ’08 number.”
Zimmerman said it’s hard to get an actual comparison with only two months of data and because the full impact of the Tyson shutdown didn’t affect the city until March of last year.
“But at this point, they just seem to keep plummeting off the cliff in terms of our water sales,” Zimmerman said.
To balance the budget, the city might have to leave a maintenance worker position open, as well as increase water rates by 6.5 percent.
Commissioners decided to wait for more accurate numbers and for the 2010 state budget to be completed before taking further action.
Sewer charges in 2008 were down $251,168, and continued to be down in the first two months of 2009. To balance the sewer fund budget, the commission would have to cut $124,120, which could be accomplished by delaying a $150,000 project to rehabilitate the sewer main on East Street from Sixth Avenue to 12th Avenue. This would also allow an underground utilities position to be moved from the water fund to the sewer fund.
In the solid waste fund, collections were down $47,000 from 2008. Recyclable sales were down $9,500 after the recycling market dropped out in the last quarter of 2008. Revenues for 2009 are expected to be $263,442 less than 2008, even though a 3 percent rate increase went into effect at the beginning of this year.
Tell (anonymous) says...
That sounds like it will really stimulate our one and only asphalt company.
March 13, 2009 at 10:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )