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Twp. continues to work through budget process

ALPENA — Work continued on the 2017-18 Alpena Township budget during a workshop Wednesday with the board of trustees reviewing the Department of Public Works budget.

The township now has conducted three workshops solely to work on the upcoming year’s budget. So far the township has reviewed the budgets for the board of trustees, the supervisor, assessor, clerk and treasurer’s office.

“We’re making tremendous progress, but it’s been cumbersome,” Township Supervisor Nathan Skibbe said.

Skibbe said as the board has been going through the budget it has been eliminating line items that were not funded or were not necessary.

During Wednesday’s workshop DPW Director Jerry Bleau reported to the board on his outlook for the upcoming year for the department. The department, which is in the middle of a multimillion dollar lawsuit with the City of Alpena over water rates, was facing some uncertainty, Bleau said.

“We all know that we have a very unstable situation in the water department,” Bleau said. “We don’t know where we are going, which makes it twice as difficult for me.”

Bleau said once the pending litigation is finalized the board will have to reconcile the budget again.

Several other issues also were discussed that affect the department’s operations including natural infiltration, looking to equip buildings with new meters to reduce cost and replacing aging pipes and mains in the infrastructure.

Bleau said spending $60,000 to replace some of the department infrastructure could save millions of dollars in the long term.

One of the upcoming projects Bleau would like to do is contract a consultant to perform a leak detection survey of the department’s infrastructure, though the leaks were not as bad as the public’s perception of them.

If the issues were to be resolved, Bleau said the residents’ water bills would begin to lower.

“If we can get new meters on everyone’s houses, do these tune-ups, and stop infiltration, we can lower your water bill,” Bleau said. “That is a fact.”

The board discussed seeking grants through the Michigan Department of Rural Development to help subsidized cost for the new meters.

Defending the department operations, Bleau said he runs the department not as a business but as a service to the township.

The workshop lasted for three hours with the next one scheduled for March 3 at 9:30 a.m. The board still needs to complete several other departments’ budgets including the Alpena Township Fire Department, the board of review and the planning commission.

The board is hoping to have the budget ready for public input by the week of March 13. The township’s fiscal year starts April 1.

Tyler Winowiecki can be reached via email at twinowiecki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688. Follow Tyler on Twitter tw_alpenanews.

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