THE NEW-HARMONY GAZETTE. SPECIAL EDITION
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TO ENTERTAIN HIGHER WATER RATE TAXES!
by Dan Barton March 13, 2020
At the February, New Harmony Town Council meeting, as the New Harmony Gazette reported in the March edition, Council President Blaylock was considering an increase in New Harmony’s, Water Tax Rates. He liquidated all of the town’s, $100,000, Water Utility Cash Reserve, transferring it into the Water Utility Operating account as an emergency measure to support the account that he called, “running in the red.†This has never been done by any Town Council in recent history, that I could find. It is a precedent-setting move.
Though it is not totally objectionable, as the Reserve Account has never been invested and does not gain interest sitting idle, theoretically losing money, it may, however, point to possible unplanned use of public money outside of any projected long-term budget calculations. Unplanned! If it had been budgeted and planned, that information should have been shared with the public. Reserve funds have suddenly been transferred to gird up the Water Utility Account. Now the issue is increased Water Tax Rates.
This development should concern you. We have many people in our community who rely solely on a meager Social Security check each month to survive. They recently had to absorb an increase in their Trash Pick Up Tax Rate and now are faced with a possible new tax increase on water.
Back in October 2016, Council President Blaylock remarked, regarding the first three Fire Hydrants being replaced, that, “We have money in the budget for three (hydrants)! That statement indicates that, apparently, there was some sort of budget. Somewhere along the way, though, the budget constraints seem to have either been forgotten or the Reserve Account transfer and the suggestion of a water tax rate increase were actually taken into account and not revealed to the public in 2016, 2017, 2018 or 2019.
In Alvin Blaylock’s speech to Kiwanis of New Harmony, on July 22, 2019, he stated that the town had a total of 87 fire hydrants. He said that in the past three years, eighteen hydrants had been replaced, with ten more to go, five to be replaced within a few days of his speech. He also pointed out that the Town had $2,561,000, in all of the Town Funds combined, as of January 2016.
In June of 2019, he said, the total combined balances of the Town Funds came to $2,985,000. “With all we have done,†he went on, “the Funds are holding up.†He then stressed, “We haven’t had to increase our water or gas rates.†That was about three months before his reelection in November. It seems that suddenly things have changed dramatically. Either Mr. Blaylock did not do his homework or, like another local politician, now out of office, he was just putting one over on the public. Albinism?
With regard to Blaylock’s reference to the Water Operating Account running in the red and causing the Tax Rate increase, all of the account balances going back as far as 2010 have always been positive; running in the black, beginning and ending. If he is referring to the fact that the Water Operating Account is now spending more than it is taking in, that’s nothing new. Again, going back to 2010, ten years, the Water Operating Account has been spending more than it has been taking in for every year but two, 2016 and 2017.
The Water Operating Account ended on December 31, 2019, with a balance of $79,715. Hardly in the red. As usual, the Town did spend more than it took in. This time by $25,293. In a conversation with the Gazette in early March, Council President Blaylock attributed the major portion of this overspending to the replacement and repair of town fire hydrants. According to a report filed by Town Clerk/Treasurer Karla Atkins, with the New Harmony Gazette, the Town spent a total, in 2019, of $48,635, on fire hydrants, out of total expenditure in the Water Utility Account of $331,837.
The question here is; could or did, the Town investigate any access to grant funding; federal, state or otherwise? Has the Council considered using other uninvested reserve accounts to shore up the Water Operating Account, as it appears the replacement of fire hydrants are not an annual event and may represent an anomaly, not requiring a Tax Funding increase in perpetuity? I’m hoping we may find answers to these questions at the next Town Council meeting being held at Town Hall this Tuesday, March 17th, at 8:30 a.m. yours, you may want to attend.
