Hillsborough Town Board Sets Priorities for FY11 Budget

Necessary vehicle replacement and some form of compensation for town employees topped priorities for items that the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners wants to see in the next fiscal year budget.

The board decided on the priorities Saturday, Feb. 6, during a budgetary and planning retreat to help give staff guidance for developing the Fiscal Year 2011 budget. The discussion followed presentations from town department heads on long-term moves that would most improve efficiency or effectiveness of providing service.

“This year is going to be more difficult,” Town Manager Eric Peterson told the board. “We went last year with replacing no equipment, no vehicles. You can do that one year, but you can’t do that another year with as much equipment as we have.”

Water and Sewer Needs

The board also heard from Utilities Director and Town Engineer Kenny Keel about serious water and sewer needs that must be met, including:

• Upgrading the Mayo Street pump station, which is struggling to meet demand.
• Reconditioning aerators used in the wastewater treatment process.
• Replacing the Orange Grove Road water main, which has become unreliable.
• Rehabilitating deteriorated sewer mains.
• Replacing and increasing the size of about 3,500 feet of sewer main line from Gold Park to Exchange Park Lane, which is running at capacity and is at risk for overflows.

Top General Fund Priorities

Looking at the General Fund, commissioners identified their top five funding priorities for the FY11 budget as:

1. Vehicle replacement
2. Employee compensation
3. Information technology infrastructure
4. Wayfinding signage
5. Transportation projects

Departments are seeking to replace the following vehicles:

• 21-year-old ladder fire truck with an aerial platform truck — $1.03 million. Industry standards recommend replacing the trucks at 20 years. Switching to a platform truck will provide a larger work area, making firefighting safer and increasing the Orange Rural Fire Department’s ability to perform rescues. The existing ladder truck is too small to accommodate necessary equipment, negatively affecting the town’s insurance rating. The Fire Department, which the Town of Hillsborough contracts with for fire service, has applied for a $400,000 grant to help pay for the truck. It also will look at demonstration vehicles to buy, Fire Chief Jeff Cabe said. “We’re trying to find ways to keep from spending over a million dollars,” he told the board.

• Brush truck — $115,000. The current truck, used by the Public Works Department for brush collection, is 14 years old and has required more than $11,000 in repairs the past two years.

• Two patrol vehicles and one criminal investigations vehicle, along with purchase of an additional patrol vehicle — $91,000. The police vehicles are older with high mileage. The additional patrol vehicle would serve as a backup and help with the decoy vehicle program.

Given the difficult economic times, commissioners discussed various ways to compensate the contributions of employees.

“We haven’t given the employees anything in a number of years,” Commissioner Eric Hallman said. “I’m struggling with how to recognize the contributions of our employees. We’ve put that at the bottom of our priorities for several years.”

The town manager noted that if departments can control spending to meet the restrictive targets set for each department in the budget, it would increase the chance to do something for employees.

Among the board’s other top priorities were:

• Implementing townwide information technology infrastructure. Commissioners repeatedly have revisited this issue over the years. Currently, the various town facilities — such as Town Hall, the Town Hall Annex and the Police Department — have separate IT infrastructure, with each contracting for IT support as well as handling IT problems in house.

• Fully funding the creation and installation of wayfinding signage to direct visitors, tourists and county residents in town in a coordinated way — $208,000. The project, which will help generate and support a healthy tourism industry, involves making and installing 78 directional, destination and historic district signs. The cost is estimated at $271,200. Currently, $24,000 is budgeted. Orange County will pay $47,661 of the costs, representing payment for directional signs that include an Orange County government destination. The town also is seeking almost $115,000 in grant funds to pay for the portion of signs related to identifying and marketing historic and natural resources in the town.

• Funding transportation projects. This would include: 
  • $50,000 to help pay for a transportation planning and engineering consultant to conduct various studies. Expected study projects include extending Orange Grove Road and addressing congestion through small improvement projects.
  • $10,000 to help fund an in-town circulating bus. The funds represent 50 percent of the local match needed for a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant that Orange County was awarded to start the bus service.
  • $2,000 to paint 10 crosswalks in house or six crosswalks in thermoplastic.