Raises for elected officials proposed

ST. MARYS - City finance committee members on Monday discussed proposed wage increases for elected officials, including some positions that haven't received raises in a decade that are being recommended for a 60 percent wage increase.

Member John Bubp said he didn't agree with a lot of the proposed numbers, pointing out the 60 percent raise for the mayor's position in particular. Bubp said it was nothing personal against mayor Patrick McGowan. He said McGowan has done an excellent job but he couldn't support raising the annual salary from $15,000 to $24,000. He might be able to support a raise to $20,000, he said.

Even as a council member himself, Bubp said he wasn't comfortable increasing council member salaries from $5,000 to $6,500.

The mayor's and auditor's pay hasn't increased since 2008, according to a document provided at the meeting. The auditor was also slated to receive a proposed raise from $18,870 to $24,000. The law director position, which has paid the same since 2010, would receive a proposed raise from $26,000 to $35,000, while the assistant law director's salary would be cut from $9,000 to $2,500.

McGowan noted officials had delayed giving raises when the city was in financial trouble and argued that the time it took to be a public servant was worth something. Law director Kraig Noble said public officials' raises are never popular but could be delayed only for so long.

Bob Fitzgerald, chairperson of the finance committee, agreed it was time to look at elected officials' wages, but with no clear consensus, he said the proposed increases should be provided to city council members to discuss further at the next meeting.

Finance committee members also proposed legislation that would authorize just less than $500,000 be taken from the general fund for a sanitary sewer overflow study, which could in turn help the city eliminate overflow problems.

Finance committee members discussed funding for the study, which has been deemed necessary due to an unfunded mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency requiring municipalities to eliminate all sanitary overflows.

Sanitary overflow is any discharge that is untreated that enters into state waters.

Public safety service director Greg Foxhoven said when city officials were discussing the annual budget, they were not satisfied with the health of the sewer fund.

"Our suggestion would be that we, with the council's approval of course, transfer $500,000 from the general fund to the sewer improvement fund," Foxhoven said. "The cost of this study is just under $500,000."

Jeff Thompson, superintendent of the water and sewer departments, said the city originally was given 12 months to implement a flow study and start proceeding with projects to eliminate sanitary overflows in May 2018. The city then received an extension of 24 months to catch peak wet weather and to reserve equipment for the study.

Thompson estimated the city had between 50 and 100 overflows per year in the 1980s and 1990s but was now down to about two or three on average per year.

The last major overflow was in June 2015 due to a "100-year flood," Thompson told the committee. The year after, the city had no overflows due to a normal year precipitation-wise. It's when the area experiences heavier downfalls, such as some events in 2018 when storms dropped between 3 and 5 inches of rain at a time, that problems arise, Thompson said.

The city's last flow study done was almost 16 years ago, which allowed officials to address many problems and reduce the number of overflows to the current minimal total, Thompson said. However, the EPA is now requiring the complete elimination of overflows within five years. If the city doesn't comply, it could be sued or fined. A new study would determine problem areas and where money would be best put to use, he said.

"Without this study, you're basically throwing a dart at the city map and hoping you hit the right area," Thompson said.

More money would be needed to spend on projects after the study, though what would be recommended and what the projects would cost is still unknown. Thompson said the study results could call for a sewer replacement or show a need for higher capacity or more treatment.

During the study, flow meters will be placed throughout the city at major points in the sewer system. Some parts are about 100 years old, according to Thompson. City officials also were recommended to discuss options with county officials to ensure the city wasn't receiving any excess.

Thompson noted that if projects recommended by the study are too costly, officials have the chance to prove hardship to the EPA. If sewage rates reach a minimum set by the EPA, the agency couldn't force the city to raise them further and would be forced to offer the city an extension on the projects. However, the EPA may mandate up to 2 percent of household income goes to fixing any issues, he said.

Foxhoven said the city's general fund has just less than $3.6 million. He was unsure when or even if the money could be paid back to the fund based on how potentially expensive recommended projects may be. He was not aware of any grants that could help with the project and said the city wouldn't have the time to apply if there were.

Noble said the mandate was frustrating because city officials had worked hard to reduce overflows to the current point and eliminating the last two or three overflows could be as or even more expensive than eliminating the "the first 48." He continued to say the city was not creating tremendous pollution with the current minimal amount of overflows but suggested officials look into more creative ideas such as creating more wetland areas.

Based on a report from consulting company Arcadis, the city has about 4,300 sewer customers. About 3,600 customers were inside city limits and 700 were outside city limits. The city recently implemented a series of wastewater rate increases, incrementally raising rates by 17 percent each year between 2018 and 2020. Foxhoven said rates likely would also be raised in 2021, but he was unsure by how much. The last time the city raised sewage rates was in 2008, he said.