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Clean Water Utility Budget Presentation
Clean Water Utility how it is Funded and a Budget Breakdown Video Similar to any other enterprise or utility, the Clean Water Utility goes through an annual budget process highlighting and itemizing the operational and capital expenses for the following year. Public presentations are made to the Village Board, adjustments are made and the Board votes to determine the final budget amount. This final budget amount is divided by the total ERU value of Peasant Prairie so that a dollar rate per ERU is established. The dollar rate is then applied to each property’s ERU to arrive at a monthly Clean Water Utility charge for each property.
There are four major budget components to the Clean Water Utility 1. Operating Expenses:Clean Water operating expenses include maintenance and supplies costs, the cost of any contractual services, and personnel costs to support the daily operations and maintenance associated with the Villages: 85 miles of curb and gutter sections, 53 miles of storm sewer pipe, 3,835 storm structures such as storm water inlets, catch basins, manholes, and our entire network of roadways, ditches, culverts, creeks, streams and riversAnnual operating and maintenance objectives of the Clean Water Utility are: Annually clean all 2,200 storm water inlets, Sweep all 85 miles of our curb and gutter sections 4 times throughout the year, Install new roadway culverts, Replace deteriorated and failing roadway culverts, Video inspect all newly constructed storm pipes for proper installation. Current list of equipment used by the Utility include: One (1) Power Flusher and Vacuum dated 2002 One (1) Street Sweeper dated 1999 One (1) Video Box Truck dated 1999 One (1) Gradall Excavator One (1) Culvert Steamer, and a variety of water pumps 2. New Program Costs:The purpose of Clean Water utility is to ensure the Village comes into compliance with its storm water discharge permit, NR216, and stays compliant into the future. As such, the following programs are required of the Utility as well as some programs that address requirements of the near future. All of these new programs are included as part of the 2007 budget.Public Education and Outreach In the coming months we will provide seven public outreach topics meant to increase public awareness of the negative impacts resulting from polluted storm water runoff and encouraging change in public behavior to help reduce these impacts. Public Involvement and Participation The Village will post the NR216 annual report on our website, www.pleasantprairieonline.com to keep you informed of our permit compliance activities as well as host an open house for residents to learn more about our efforts to mitigate this type of pollution. Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination This program is monitoring storm water discharge and detecting unwanted pollutants. The village conducts visual surveys of all major outfalls during dry seasons to identify and determine why water is flowing through the storm water system during dry weather when there should be little or no flow. We also look for discharge residue left behind from prior illegal infiltration events. This is termed “detection”. Once detected, the utility will investigate where the discharge originated, report the incidence, and take necessary steps to remove or shut down the source. Construction Site Pollution Control The Village is responsible for making sure that construction sites have a minimal impact on storm water infiltration. Raw earth is usually exposed during construction and this leads to erosion during rain storms. The Village currently has an erosion control ordinance in effect. Post Construction Site Storm Water Management Our Engineering Department reviews plans for all new development and commercial construction to ensure these projects are designed to meet all storm water management performance standards set by the State of Wisconsin. Recently created mandates require municipalities to closely monitor and maintain all municipally owned ponds and detention or retention basins. In addition, the Village is required to prepare a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan for all municipally owned garages and surface storage areas. Pollution Prevention Planning Pollution prevention includes street sweeping and cleaning catch basins and disposing sediment and pollutants in a licensed municipal solid waste facility. During snow seasons the Village calculates road conditions and snowplow speeds then calibrates our salting and de-icing equipment to apply only enough salt and de-icer material so as to minimize any environmental impact. The Village also provides curbside leaf collection twice a year and operates a yard waste collection site. Municipally owned properties larger than 5 acres are required to be evaluated for fertilizer application as well as implement necessary measures to reduce storm water contamination from municipal sources within all source water protection areas. Specific training is required for all Village personnel involved in these programs. Storm Water Quality Management Improving and maintaining good water quality is the overriding goal of the Clean Water Utility. One measure of our efforts is to measure the amount of pollutants that are removed in a watershed before the water enters Lake Michigan or the Des Plaines River. Currently the Village removes 28.1% of the Total Suspended Solids, or TSS, from the watershed. TSS refers to everything in water that is not water. One new mandate requires that by 2013, the percentage of TSS required to be removed is 40%. Measuring this removal employs DNR approved modeling software Source Loading and Management Model (SLAMM) that takes actual inputs for different Best Management Practices used by the Village. The Village must increase the percentage of pollutants removed from storm water runoff and entering area waterways to 40% by the year 2013. In the recently adopted budget for 2007 is a new program that begins our process to address this issue. Using consultants specializing in storm water management, we’ll identify useful capital projects and operational methods that ensure we’ll meet the 40% removal mandate by 2013. Non-implementation of any of these required programs, or not meeting these measures will result in the Village attaining a status of noncompliance when fines can be as high a $10,000 per day. 3. Saving for Future Projects:Today, Pleasant Prairie has a system of storm infrastructure with a total value of $20 million dollars. Assuming a reasonable life span of 40 years, the annual physical depreciation to the integrity of the system is $500,000 per year. This amount should be collected and used to create a replacement program, or fund, to deal with ongoing deterioration or future failure of existing infrastructure.4. Capital Projects:New capital projects for 2007 include some non-assessable projects such as replacing equipment and vehicles for the utility. This includes purchasing a one-ton pickup truck and pumps of varying capacities. It also includes installing some “behind the curb” sump pump lines at various locations in the village. Sump water running freely into the roadway during winter months freezes and accumulates into a thick slab of ice. Removing this ice accumulation with heavy equipment requires extra time and salt from Public Work crews which decreases water quality. Clean Water Utility how it is Funded and a Budget Breakdown VideoOther Clean Water Utility Informational VideosFrequently Asked Questions VideoClean Water Utility Informational Video |
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