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Berlin finance director outlines fiscal 2025 highlights; council hears infrastructure, lead-service and PFAS updates
Summary
Finance Director Natalie Slayton presented preliminary fiscal 2025 results, noting higher-than-expected investment earnings and ongoing capital projects. The council heard detailed updates on smart-meter rollouts, a 350-service lead-service replacement contract, lift-station relocations and mandated PFAS testing that staff said will add about $100,000 in lab costs.
Finance Director Natalie Slayton delivered Berlin’s fiscal 2025 highlights at the Oct. 27 council meeting, describing preliminary results ahead of a final audit, revenue sources and multiple ongoing capital projects in the general fund and utility enterprises.
Slayton said property tax remains the town’s largest revenue source and that investment earnings exceeded the modest budget projection, boosting available resources as the town carries several multi-year capital projects. She reiterated that fiscal 2025 numbers are draft and will be adjusted after the audit.
Staff reviewed enterprise-fund work: the electric department’s AMI smart-meter rollout is underway, with some meters installed and a portal for internal monitoring in place; the electric fund purchased equipment including a bucket truck and transformers. Slayton noted potential purchase-power cost pressure for the next budget cycle and said the electric fund will continue to monitor transmission costs.
Water and sewer updates drew extended discussion. Staff said a major lead-service-line replacement project — an anticipated contract covering roughly 350 services — will go out to bid; the first phase is expected to start in late winter or spring. Town staff also described a planned lift-station relocation with an estimated $1.5 million project cost and several other capital projects (Franklin Avenue wall, Halden Avenue work) already underway.
Council and staff discussed PFAS and PFOA testing requirements for wastewater and spray-site monitoring. Staff said regulators initially proposed a larger testing scope, which would have cost substantially more, but the town negotiated the plan down; mandated testing and associated lab costs will still add roughly $100,000 to the wastewater budget, staff said, and the town is seeking grant and loan proceeds to mitigate local burden.
Council members praised water-resources staff for extensive work on aging infrastructure and asked staff to continue seeking grant leverage and to provide a multi-year capital plan. Staff said stormwater funding and capital-fee structures will be revisited to improve grant competitiveness and to stabilize long-term capital funding.
No votes were required during the presentation; council asked for follow-up information on how many violations fall into penalty tiers for the speed-camera ordinance (separate agenda item) and for more detail on the lead-service timeline.
The council thanked staff for the presentation and directed departments to continue grant-seeking and to return with refined budget impacts next month.
