Albany City Council held its regular monthly meeting last Tuesday, February 3 at city hall with five of six members on hand and two primary issues being discussed–water projects and the annual audit report.

Tony Tompkins first addressed the council about possibly getting water to his property along the bypass. The property in question is about 8,000 feet beyond the Hwy. 738 intersection, the area where the city is attempting to run a 12-inch water transmission line along the bypass, beginning at the Perry Hay farm on the north end.

Tompkins had originally attended a public hearing on the water line project last month and questioned Monarch Engineers about the possibility of extending the line a little ways past the 738 intersection to his property.

Tompkins told the council there were different people who were looking at the property to possibly locate a business, but would need water.

David Bowles, of Monarch Engineers, had looked at the area and told Tompkins and the council that the nearest water line hook-up available to Tompkins’ property would be about 2,000 feet from the Bates Delk Road. That is a three-inch line. Bowles added that if there were any leftover funds from the bypass project, the city could consider using it to extend water lines to the Tompkins land.

The estimated cost of running the three-inch line from the Bates Delk Road to the property was between $30,000 and $40,000 and the other downside at the moment is that the bypass funding is not likely to become available for about a year-and-a-half, with the total project completion as far as two and a-half years down the road.

Tompkins indicated he wouldn’t be able to fund the line himself and Albany Mayor Nicky Smith also said the city doesn’t have the money at this time to run the three-inch line.

Council members did discuss the matter and looked at possible ways to get water to the area in the future. The mayor recommended the council take the matter under advisement and continue to research possible ways to help the property owner obtain water. He also suggested Tompkins keep checking with the city periodically to see if there is any progress.

Bowles then gave the monthly progress report which centered on the bypass project. He said engineers were ready to turn in the application to USDA for funding of the $1.9 million project, but informed the council there would be no funds available from the ARC (Appalachian Region Commission) to go toward the project and suggested the city go ahead and apply for enough low interest loans, other than the grants being applied for, to cover the funding.

Engineers have estimated that based on the number of customers the city has on the water system, once the project is complete, the average cost per customer would amount to about .98 cents per month on their bills.

Councilman Leland Hicks made the motion to amend the application taking out ARC funding and proceed with turning in the application. The motion passed by unanimous vote.

Bowles also informed the council of a situation with the water plant where some chemicals had gotten into the pipes and done some damage. He estimated the repairs would amount to between $30 and $40 thousand dollars.

The city’s auditor, Sammy Lee of Lexington, then presented the council with the annual audit report for the preceding year. Although Lee said it was a “clean” audit, “but you’re not hitting a home run at all,” he added.

The reference addressed the fact that the city budget is extremely tight, especially in the water department category, with not enough revenues being collected and the city having too small of an amount of cash available on hand.

The city’s total assets are $32 million and the $6.5 million in liabilities is monthly in bond repayments.

Lee told the council that they have assets, but not in the right places. He also said the water department needed to be looked at harder, mainly due to expenses increasing quite a bit while revenues are somewhat flatlining.

Councilman Brad Thrasher asked the auditor that if the city didn’t do anything different over the next year, what would the situation be, with Lee estimating it would cause about a $150,000 negative effect to the city budget.

Lee feels that part of the problem in the water department is the past due accounts. The current policy is that if a bill isn’t paid in 30 days a customer will receive notice and if not paid in 90 days, the water meter will be pulled.

Lee said in many areas, the Lexington area for example, if anyone goes past 10 days in paying their bill their water would be shut off.

Mayor Smith noted that 36 meters had been turned off last month and the city was trying to become more vigorous in its collections.

Lee also recommended a better reporting system to monitor receipts and expenditures.

The auditor said the water department was in a negative amount of $323,000 but most of that was due to about $800,000 in depreciation. Not counting depreciation, there is only about $100,000 cash available for expenditures and Lee noted that major expenses, such as the one mentioned earlier with the water plant pipe, was a problem. “Cash is not growing enough,” he added.

Councilman Tony Delk then considered the possibility of some repercussions with the new bypass project, noting the estimated cost to customers of .98 cents per month only covered the actual cost of the loans and construction, but fears the added costs on maintaining the lines once they are in place may be a problem area.

Following discussion on the audit report, Delk also said a resident on Hwy. 350 (Old Monticello Road) was inquiring about water on their property and the mayor said he would look into that matter.

Prior to adjourning the approximate one-hour meeting, Mayor Smith congratulated the Clinton County Lady Bulldogs on their recent 4th Regional All “A” Classic championship and a win they also picked up during the state All “A” in Frankfort before losing to the eventual tournament champions.

The next regular meeting of Albany City Council is scheduled for March 3.