Community Corner
Waterford's Still Paying For Sandy and The Blizzard
Although temperatures are hitting the 80s, Waterford is still dealing with the cost of snow removal from the blizzard that buried us earlier this year.
Storm season is nearly upon us and many are predicting this could be a bad year for hurricanes. Which doesn't bode well, as Waterford is still digging out from the bills that piled up after last fall's Superstorm Sandy and the blizzard we had earlier this year.
Last night, Waterford's Board of Selectmen approved fund transfers to pay for unforeseen costs incurred by a surprising number of departments as a result of the blizzard (which some called Charlotte, some called Nemo, and all of us would call awful). So how bad was it?
Public Works
The Public Works Department exceeded its snow removal budget by a whopping $94,052.57. Some of that cost will be reimbursed by FEMA but in the meantime, to cover the unanticipated expense, the department wants to transfer the following amounts:
- $3,000 from clerical and technical
- $7,500 from equipment maintenance
- $60,000 from highway maintenance
- $3,500 from refuse collection and disposal
- $20,055 from solid waste disposal.
The Fire Department
Bruce Miller, director of Waterford Fire Services, came in with a similar request for overtime pay, asking for an additional $23,836 in overtime that was incurred by both storms. Snow removal wasn't the issue here. It was the power outages caused by both storms that required additional manpower.
Miller said that the fire department was fully staffed and very busy during both storms responding to emergencies and trying to head off problems caused by generators. For instance, the department responded to a number of calls to deal with generator fires or vinyl siding melting because generators were placed next to a building, or to remove generators that homeowners had placed inside garages. (For future reference, generators should never be placed inside buildings. This results in a dangerous build-up of carbon monoxide gases.)
Some of the costs are eligible for reimbursement by FEMA. However, a town restriction limiting the use of part-time time personnel to 19 hours a week meant that full-time personnel were needed to work the extra hours and that required paying overtime during the nine days of power outages following Sandy and the six days resulting from the blizzard.
Youth Services
Waterford Youth Services requested that $2,500 be transfered from programs and $1,000 from contracts to pay the electric bill, which was higher than anticipated because of increased use of the building during Sandy and the blizzard.
Youth Services Director Dani Gorman also requested that $3,300 be transfered from counseling to overtime, to cover the cost of staffing the EOC's community services building, which was opened as a shelter for seniors who lost power.
The Library
Waterford Public Library came in with a request to transfer $2,000 from clerical and technical support and $1,500 from FICA to "service contracts and repairs." Recent inspections found water in the fuel tank and oil in the sump area (which was a result of the earlier storms).
Library Director Roz Rubinstein said she believes the problem with the tank has been fixed at this point but the recent heavy rains have resulted in leaks in the roof, and the cost of repairing that isn't yet known.
The Board of Selectmen signed off on all these requests but the Board of Finance will have the last word. The Board sent the requests on to the Board of Finance, which will take them up at its meeting on July 31, as town departments strive to balance their books before the fiscal year ends.
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