-
Last Thursday, department heads gathered around the same table to discuss their needs for fiscal year 2022-23.
Each year, the Town of Highlands Board of Commissioners meet at the First Presbyterian Church to discuss potential projects that could be included in the year’s budget. Last Thursday, department heads gathered around the same table to discuss their needs for fiscal year 2022-23.
“To me this is a time of planning and creative thinking about how we can better serve this community and develop a budget that best meets the needs of this community,” Highlands mayor Patrick Taylor said.
Town manager Josh Ward and financial director Rebecca Schuler started the retreat off with a review of the town’s financial matters.
Ward said there has been a record number of visitors to Highlands in the past couple of years, causing an increase in sales tax.
“There are a lot of revenues that are up, especially zoning certificates and development applications and there have been a number of remodels and new construction during this period of time,” Ward said. “One of the only problems that we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic was supply chain shortages. We experienced those problems in about every project that we started over the past year. We have also been dealing with supply chain shortages dealing with vehicles and equipment.”
The following projects are on hold due to supply chain issues: Moore Wood Road waterline replacement project, water treatment plant high service variable pump, Arnold Road pump station replacement, access walkway to the water plant on Clearwell, Little Bear Pen pump station generator, replacement of a street crew dump truck, town streetlight replacement project and two replacement police vehicles.
Some projects that Ward said have not been affected by supply chain issues are the tennis court repaving, which is currently underway, the three sidewalk projects, Fourth Street sidewalk project by the Wells Hotel.
Regarding the current fire station project, Ward said they have luckily not run into many issues.
“Interior work has begun and the exterior is almost complete,” Ward said. “The rock is going on in the next two weeks. So, hopefully we can get that finished up. Chief Gearhart is planning on a completion date of Sept. 1.”
Current property tax collections as of Feb. 2022 are at $2,806,680.29, which, according to Schuler, is a decrease of $1,169.32 from Feb. 2021, but is not something that Schuler said she is worried about. It represents a collection rate of 97.29 percent.
Sales tax revenue is at $791,983.89 and has increased approximately $120,087.43 from Feb. 2021, and franchise tax is at $64,494.61, which has increased by $10,969.43 from Feb. 2021.
In the general fund, the revenue is at $4,440,123.80, which is $67,994.57 less compared to Feb. 2021, and Schuler said the staff anticipates meeting the budgeted revenue in the general fund.
Schuler said the town is under their spending budget, at 52 percent spent, when this time of the year it should be 66.7 percent.
In enterprise funds, all revenues should be at or below 66.7 percent collected and according to Schuler each department is as follows:
Water - 61 percent
Sewer - 56 percent
Sanitation - 65 percent
Electric - 77 percent
She said fund revenues are slightly higher this year due to more people coming throughout the year.
Expenditures should also be at or below 66.7 percent, according to Schuler and they are as follows:
Water - 48 percent
Sewer - 48 percent
Sanitation - 57 percent
Electric - 39 percent
Public works
Public works director Lamar Nix started off his request list by presenting a list of all of the paving projects that he has gathered.
The total amount for paving these roads would be $372,000 and the following roads would be paved:
Cullasaja - $52,000
Talley - $50,000
Bruner - $23,000
Oak (1st and 3rd) - $134,000
Old Walhalla - $50,000
Cook Road (900’) - $31,000
Lucerne (Top) - $12,000
1st - $20,000
“We elected not to pave Cullasaja last year, for whatever reason, so we put it back on this year,” Nix said. “There are mixed feelings for people who live on that street. Some of them want it done, but if you’re on the other side of the road, you don’t. Bruner needs to be paved because it is in bad shape. Oak between first and third is deteriorating and sort of blends in with another property. Old Walhalla is another gravel road that we tried to fix after a heavy rain. There’s about 900 feet of Cook Road and I didn’t put the whole road on there because it really doesn’t need it. There’s about 900 feet of it that is deteriorating. Lucerne is at the top of Holt Knob, which is a little narrow street and it does need to be resurfaced. On First Street, that bleeds in with Third Street onto Oak Street.”
Under sidewalk projects, Nix proposed Oak and First Streets and U.S. 64 from Old Edwards Inn to Pinecrest/Cullasaja at a total cost of $225,000, and a sidewalk on the Third Street Wall at a cost of $61,000.
For equipment, Nix requested $265,000 to replace a motor grader and $25,000 for a snow plow/spreader. For the sanitation department, he requested a compact rear loader truck for $135,000.
Under the water and sewer department, Nix requested $222,000 for a sewer line replacement on Carolina Way.
“The trees on Carolina Way have roots and those roots find pipes,” Nix said. “Once they get there, it causes the tenants of these buildings on Carolina Way a lot of problems and it’s time to fix it.”
There are several water booster pump generators that NIx requested at a combined total of $434,000, on Moorewood, Ravenel, Satulah, Holt Knob and Brushy Face. He also requested a sewer pump station generator replacement on Mill Creek for $41,000 and a meter replacement for 1/3rd of the water system for $380,000.
One big project that Nix mentioned was incorporating water, sewer and electric to the Gibson Road area at a cost of $608,000.
“There are approximately 12 to 14 vacant lots in the Gibson Road area that have no access to any utilities whatsoever,” Nix said. “These lots seem to be selling one at a time. It’s always just beyond our electric and just beyond our water. They have been running sewer by running lines through private property tied to a gravity system down on Smallwood, but there is a limit. What this project proposes to do is to extend the electric, water and sewer, along Gibson to make the connection to where it is now to Smallwood and Gibson all the way around to Harris Drive.”
Another big request for the water treatment plant, according to Nix, is belt press replacements/process improvements for $900,000.
For the electric department, Nix requested $251,000 for a 2009 international bucket truck.
The entire Public Works Department proposed budget items for FY 2022-23 was a combined $4,332,700.
I.T. Department
I.T. Director Matt Schuler gave a presentation on his needs and gave an update on the Hotwire Broadband project.
Schuler said Hotwire released a schedule of when they plan to do certain things in the town.
On March 8, the product listing and pricing was ready. On April 15, Hotwire plans to get its Headend Certification. On May 1, Schuler said Hotwire will launch its Highlands market.
Currently, Hotwire is seeking real estate for a store front.
“The market launch will be so citizens can sign up,” Schuler said. “They are currently working on the ‘flipping of the switch.’ They are going to try and roll over the existing customers primarily, then as soon as that is done, they will start doing the new customers.”
Two typical capital items Schuler brought to the board were upgrades and server upgrades to the Big Bear Pen and Little Bear Pen Scada totalling $65,000.
“They are an older style scada that’s analog run on phone lines,” Schuler said. “The one at Big Bear Pen is really old. The plan is to upgrade those two this year. We try to get eight years out of our servers. They are pretty typical requests.”
Schuler then updated the board on utility dispatching. Schuler looked into the Cooperative Response Center Inc. to take over utility dispatching, because currently the town uses Macon County 911 and Macon County Emergency Services Director Warren Cabe said they get overwhelmed during storms.
“When Macon County 911 gets overwhelmed, they put it on the answering machine,” Schuler said. “It says that Highlands is aware that there is a power outage and they are working on it. What that means, essentially, is that they don’t know exactly how many houses are out. We don’t always know if we have gotten every single house every time because there is no record of it. The past few times we have had bad storms, Macon County has called and said that we are going to have to man our own phones.”
The average estimated cost to use Cooperative Response Center Inc. would be $1,000 monthly, with a $450 minimum monthly and $2.25 per call when talking to an agent.
Schuler also brought up changing 750 meters in the town to Smart Meters, which would cost $350,000.
Parks and Recreation
In Parks and Recreation, director Lester Norris brought up replacing the Houston House at the center with a state-of-the-art building to make more room for the after-school program. The total cost of the building would be $4.5 million for 8,600 square feet. It would include a basketball goal area, an outdoor playing area and kitchen.
Community building
Doc Wilson brought a request to the board to remodel the kitchen in the Highlands Community Building for a total of $181,831.96.
The project would include brand new equipment in the kitchen for $93,831.96, $63,127 for construction, $10,000 for plumbing and $15,110 for electrical.
“Being a native Highlander, I have a soft spot for families wanting to have grandma’s birthday celebration at the community building,” Wilson said.
Cavender Construction sent a proposal to Wilson stating they would demolish drop ceilings, wall finish to bare studs, and put floor tile in the kitchen area. They would saw cut the floor and remove concrete for plumbing repairs under the slab, demolish drop the ceiling in the bar area, backfill and pour concrete in the plumbing trench, add insulation in kitchen walls, add tile backer board on kitchen walls, install new drop ceiling in kitchen and bar areas with 2x2 vinyl-faced drywall panels, install new wall tiles on kitchen walls and install new floor tiles on kitchen floor. They would also demolish the wood deck at the side of the building adjacent to the kitchen area, dig and pour footers, lay block, form and pour concrete caps for new loading dock and steps, install angle imbedded in concrete cap at the loading dock edge, install two loading dock bumpers and paint blockwork to match the exterior color and angle at the dock edge safety yellow.
Police Department
Highlands Police Chief Andrea Holland approached the board with a request for a pole barn and two vehicles. The pole barn total was $25,000 and it would be used to house the department’s box truck.
Holland also requested $29,000 to replace all of the body cameras in the department.
Other business
During the budget retreat, the board also discussed the Stormwater Master Plan, the fiber network, code enforcement and the Sidewalk Master Plan.
- By Christopher Lugo