Mayor Christopher Louras said the city can make progress on its ancient water lines without raising water rates and even more progress if it just raises them a little.
Rutland has roughly 30 miles of water mains that date back to the 19th century, with 3,400 feet on Woodstock Avenue that were laid in 1858. Many of those old pipes are smaller than modern standards call for and have degraded so they are effectively smaller than when they were installed.
Louras presented the Board of Aldermen on Monday with a memo from city engineer Evan Pilachowski that outlined a replacement strategy that could, depending how aggressively the board wants to pursue it, eventually update all the city’s outdated lines.
The memo outlined four options. The first was to do nothing. In the second, as bonds and other obligations expire, the money that had been used to repay them stays in the budget, but is instead put toward line replacement.
The third option builds on the second by instituting a 1 percent increase in the water rate for six years. The fourth is like the third, only with a 2 percent increase over five years.
None of the plans bring the system up to date any time soon, but option four leaves the city with 45 percent of its water mains beyond their useful lifespan by 2040 — compared to 74 percent if the city does nothing — and has them all up to date by 2110.
“My preference is number four,” Louras said Wednesday. “It’s the one that gets the city to a point, though 100 years from now, where none of our water infrastructure is beyond its useful life. More important, though, it is the most aggressive plan to replace the most decrepit and vulnerable water mains in the city.”
The city’s antebellum pipes were at the top of the priority list, which covers roughly four and a half miles and includes sections of Killington Avenue, Park Street, High Street, Engrem Avenue, Park Street, Wales Street, Pearl Street, Kingsley Avenue, Roberts Avenue, Water Street and Wood Avenue, among many others.
Louras said the aging pipes had implications for fire coverage and, as a result, the city’s insurance rating. He also said the oldest pipes were difficult to repair because they had a tendency to break even more in the process.
Louras tried to get a measure on the 2008 town meeting ballot instituting a permanent 8.8 percent surcharge on water bills to fund a 150-year replacement schedule. The board fell a vote short of the majority required to put the question on the ballot.
Board president David Allaire said Thursday he needed to review the proposal more before giving a firm opinion.
“Certainly it’s something we all realize has to be done,” he said. “It’s a question of how we fund it.”
Allaire said he was wary of burdening the taxpayers or ratepayers.
“I don’t know if we’ve looked under every rock as far as federal funding goes,” he said. “I know there’s been some effort in that direction, I’d like to see more.”
Alderwoman Sharon Davis said she opposed the mayor’s earlier proposal but, like Allaire, was still studying this one.
“I think the board’s well aware that we need to work on the infrastructure, but the board’s also aware the taxpayers need some relief and water and sewer users need some relief,” she said. “I’m open to be learning more about the proposal, what is the financial impact.”
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
Thursday, December 9, 2010
DPW agrees to health care hike
Department of Public Works employees have unanimously agreed to pay more for health care.
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 93 Local 1201 voted Monday to approve a contract provision that Mayor Christopher Louras said will save the city roughly $100,000 a year. The Board of Aldermen also unanimously approved the change Monday.
Employees go from having no deductible to $2,500 for a single worker and $5,000 for a two-person family. Louras said the city will pay the first 75 percent of the deductible.
This drops the premium for a single employee from $798 to $642 a month, Louras said, and that of a family from $2,098 to $1,569 a month.
Meanwhile, employee contributions will increase from 10 percent with a 4 percent salary cap in the first year to 12 percent with a 6 percent cap in the second year and 14 percent with a 7 percent cap in the third year.
Louras heaped praise on the employees Wednesday.
“The reason DPW’s doing this is because they get it,” he said. “They understand the pressures the taxpayers are under. They’re more than willing to step up to the plate and help figure out some savings.”
Board president David Allaire echoed Louras’s sentiment, and said he hoped DPW’s decision would set an example for others in city leadership.
“We’re all working very hard to trim the budget, looking for ways to save money,” he said. “To have the employees step up is good.”
Louras said the $100,000 savings number includes nonunion employees who will be subject to the same arrangement.
He said the contract also provides no pay raise in the first year and raises of 3.5 percent in the second and third years. He said a significant amount of those raises will be eaten up by the increasing contributions.
“We’re taxpayers, too,” Local 1201 president Tom Franzoni said. “We definitely don’t want to lose members and the aldermen are looking everywhere for tax savings.”
Franzoni said he and other union members took note of the town meeting vote last year for a charter change requiring municipal employees to pay 20 percent of their health care costs. The Legislature shot down the change, but Franzoni said city workers felt the taxpayers’ pain and wanted to show they understood.
Still, Franzoni said he was not expecting a unanimous vote.
“I was shocked as anybody when I was at the meeting,” he said. “We explained it and people got in line and voted for it. ... Nobody was grumbling about having to pay more for health care.”
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 93 Local 1201 voted Monday to approve a contract provision that Mayor Christopher Louras said will save the city roughly $100,000 a year. The Board of Aldermen also unanimously approved the change Monday.
Employees go from having no deductible to $2,500 for a single worker and $5,000 for a two-person family. Louras said the city will pay the first 75 percent of the deductible.
This drops the premium for a single employee from $798 to $642 a month, Louras said, and that of a family from $2,098 to $1,569 a month.
Meanwhile, employee contributions will increase from 10 percent with a 4 percent salary cap in the first year to 12 percent with a 6 percent cap in the second year and 14 percent with a 7 percent cap in the third year.
Louras heaped praise on the employees Wednesday.
“The reason DPW’s doing this is because they get it,” he said. “They understand the pressures the taxpayers are under. They’re more than willing to step up to the plate and help figure out some savings.”
Board president David Allaire echoed Louras’s sentiment, and said he hoped DPW’s decision would set an example for others in city leadership.
“We’re all working very hard to trim the budget, looking for ways to save money,” he said. “To have the employees step up is good.”
Louras said the $100,000 savings number includes nonunion employees who will be subject to the same arrangement.
He said the contract also provides no pay raise in the first year and raises of 3.5 percent in the second and third years. He said a significant amount of those raises will be eaten up by the increasing contributions.
“We’re taxpayers, too,” Local 1201 president Tom Franzoni said. “We definitely don’t want to lose members and the aldermen are looking everywhere for tax savings.”
Franzoni said he and other union members took note of the town meeting vote last year for a charter change requiring municipal employees to pay 20 percent of their health care costs. The Legislature shot down the change, but Franzoni said city workers felt the taxpayers’ pain and wanted to show they understood.
Still, Franzoni said he was not expecting a unanimous vote.
“I was shocked as anybody when I was at the meeting,” he said. “We explained it and people got in line and voted for it. ... Nobody was grumbling about having to pay more for health care.”
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Board of Aldermen approved a new policy on health insurance buyouts after a brief but spirited debate Monday.
The Board of Aldermen approved a new policy on health insurance buyouts after a brief but spirited debate Monday.
Mayor Christopher Louras presented the policy to the board, along with one on unpaid leave, for inclusion in the city's employee handbook.
It allows nonunion employees who have other health insurance options to opt out of the city plan and get half of the employer's contribution, saving the city the other half.
Louras said approval would codify what was already an unofficial practice. He also said buyouts had been offered at 10 percent, but nobody took them.
Alderman David Dress, who moved earlier in the meeting to sever the two changes into separate motions, said he would not support the buyout policy.
“I understand fully why it is done at the city and the school level,” he said. “That does not make it right. ... I have an absolute abhorrence for somebody being rewarded, through an insurance buyout, for effectively doing nothing.”
Alderwoman Sharon Davis disagreed with Dress' reading on the policy.
“I think we have to remember that this is a benefit due to the employee already,” she said. “If the buyout's not there, the employee's going to take the benefit.”
In response to a question from Alderman William Notte, Louras estimated that the buyouts have saved the city roughly $70,000 during the past five years.
Louras also pointed out that the change only applied to nonunion personnel, as the police, fire and public works union already had the same buyout clause in their contracts.
“Not having this would give nonunion people one more reason to look across the street and say, ‘They have a benefit I don't,'” he said.
The motion passed by a voice vote. The board went on to approve the unpaid leave policy unanimously with almost no discussion. That policy allows department heads to grant unpaid leave under certain circumstances.
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
Mayor Christopher Louras presented the policy to the board, along with one on unpaid leave, for inclusion in the city's employee handbook.
It allows nonunion employees who have other health insurance options to opt out of the city plan and get half of the employer's contribution, saving the city the other half.
Louras said approval would codify what was already an unofficial practice. He also said buyouts had been offered at 10 percent, but nobody took them.
Alderman David Dress, who moved earlier in the meeting to sever the two changes into separate motions, said he would not support the buyout policy.
“I understand fully why it is done at the city and the school level,” he said. “That does not make it right. ... I have an absolute abhorrence for somebody being rewarded, through an insurance buyout, for effectively doing nothing.”
Alderwoman Sharon Davis disagreed with Dress' reading on the policy.
“I think we have to remember that this is a benefit due to the employee already,” she said. “If the buyout's not there, the employee's going to take the benefit.”
In response to a question from Alderman William Notte, Louras estimated that the buyouts have saved the city roughly $70,000 during the past five years.
Louras also pointed out that the change only applied to nonunion personnel, as the police, fire and public works union already had the same buyout clause in their contracts.
“Not having this would give nonunion people one more reason to look across the street and say, ‘They have a benefit I don't,'” he said.
The motion passed by a voice vote. The board went on to approve the unpaid leave policy unanimously with almost no discussion. That policy allows department heads to grant unpaid leave under certain circumstances.
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
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