Water and Sewer 3/10/25

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Water and Sewer Minutes 03-10-25 141 KB

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Town of Richmond

Special Meeting of Water and Sewer Commission

Minutes of March 10, 2025

Members Present: Erin Farr, Bard Hill, Jay Furr

Members Absent: Morgan Wolaver

Staff Present: Manager Josh Arneson, Assistant to the Town Manager Duncan Wardwell, Admin Assistant Linn Caroleo, Finance Director Connie Bona.

Others Present: The meeting was recorded for MMCTV Erin Wagg.

https://youtu.be/NPP4XLpyzB4?si=GJzaGxFBg1u4YniU

MMCTV Video: MMCTV Erin Wagg, Samantha Ruggles and Heather Hunter from the financial audit team of RHR Smith & Company CPAs.

Call to Order:  6:00 pm

Welcome: Farr

Public Comment: None

Additions or Deletions to the Agenda: None

Presentation and Review of FY24 Audit
Timestamp: 0:01

https://www.richmondvt.gov/fileadmin/files/Water_Sewer_Commission/Meetings/2025/03/3a1_Richmond_CTG-SAS_114_Final_24.pdf

https://www.richmondvt.gov/fileadmin/files/Water_Sewer_Commission/Meetings/2025/03/3a2_Richmond_ML24_Final.pdf

https://www.richmondvt.gov/fileadmin/files/Water_Sewer_Commission/Meetings/2025/03/3a3_RICHMOND_AUDIT_FY24_FINAL_01-16-25.pdf

https://www.richmondvt.gov/fileadmin/files/Water_Sewer_Commission/Meetings/2025/03/3a4_FY24_QTR_4_Water_Sewer_Septage_Financial_-_v3.pdf

People who participated in discussion: Arneson, Bona, Hill, Farr, Hunter, Furr, Ruggles

Hunter explained that the Water and Sewer Department is considered an enterprise fund, which are self-sustaining and run as a for-profit business entity. They require capital assets, long-term obligations, and accounts receivable. She continued sharing her screen while reviewing the FY24 Water and Sewer budget which starts on page 24 of the FY24 budget audit for the Town. Capital assets are property or equipment that are still being paid for or that is owned and can be sold. It was clarified that septage is also treated the same as water, because it’s run as a for-profit business, and septage is included in totals for capital assets. Hill mentioned that it’s hard to understand how much money we actually have and not just discussing projections. Ruggles clarified that there is a separate cash basis budget, which quarterly shows how much cash you have raised and how much you have paid in operating expenses, this is a separate budget that does not show depreciation for example. Farr wanted to know more about depreciation. Ruggles said that an item needs to be worth over $5,000 to be a capital asset that depreciates. Bona keeps track of the budget for depreciation of assets. Arneson asked about VMERS, which Hunter said this relates to current employees as well as retired employees and involves actuarial calculations of unfunded liability. Everyone was pleased with the explanations and found it helpful to have the auditors present.

Review and discussion of draft FY26 Water and Wastewater Budget
Timestamp: 0:45

https://www.richmondvt.gov/fileadmin/files/Water_Sewer_Commission/Meetings/2025/03/3b1_FY26_Water___Wastewater_budget_Draft_03-10-25__1_.pdf

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.richmondvt.gov%2Ffileadmin%2Ffiles%2FWater_Sewer_Commission%2FMeetings%2F2025%2F03%2F3b2_FY26_Water___Wastewater_budget_Draft_03-10-25__1_.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

People who participated in discussion: Farr, Arneson, Bona, Hill, Furr

Arneson shared his screen and went through the FY26 budget line by line. Hill asked why are debt and reserves combined in the total? To which Arneson replied, because they're not operational expenses. Bona was asked if she could revise the budget so that operating, total debt, total reserves, and total expenses are separated out, which she agreed would be a useful improvement. Farr thinks the uniform budget should be increased. Arneson explained that by the next meeting he will have a full year of rate data from March 31, 2024 to April 1, 2025. Hill asked about labor costs and Arneson said right now it’s a 70% and 30% split between water and sewer, because of the installation of the new water meters. Farr asked about the health insurance, which Bona replied that health insurance premiums are budgeted for a year with a two-person coverage even if a position is open. Hill added that the same thing is done in the Town budget, even if a position is only filled for parts of the year. Arneson stated that currently there are $119,000 in Unrestricted funds, but he thinks this will change in the next month and Cote may decide that a big project is coming up and he would need funds from that account. Hill asked that Cote come to the April meeting about the budget in case he has projects, Arneson mentioned the 20-year study. Bona said it is possible to put funds from Unrestricted funds into the Restricted funds to pay for big projects or it’s possible to get a low interest loan. Hill asked that loan percentages be added to the budget sheet.

Items for Next Agenda:

Sewer sample numbers

Water rates

March water data

Adjournment

Hill moved to adjourn. Furr seconded.

Roll Call Vote: Hill, Farr, Furr in favor. Motion approved.

Meeting adjourned at: 7:29 pm

Chat file from Zoom: None