Ashland schedules FY27 budget work session; commissioners debate accelerating waterline replacements
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Summary
The commission set a one-day budget work session April 16 and discussed a proposal to accelerate $10 million in waterline replacements over 15 years, water loss reduction efforts and possible equipment and staffing needs to speed repairs.
The City of Ashland commission set a budget work session for April 16 at 1:00 p.m. and spent substantial time discussing proposals to accelerate waterline replacements and address the city's water losses.
Mr Grama, city finance staff, told the commission the FY2026-27 budget is essentially complete and proposed the April 15 or 16 dates; commissioners agreed on April 16 at 1 p.m. "The FY27 budget is 99.9% complete, and we'll be ready to present," Mr Grama said.
Why it matters: Commissioners flagged aging water infrastructure and recurring maintenance costs as budget priorities. Staff outlined a financing option that would bond roughly $10 million over 15 years, producing an estimated $500,000 in annual debt service that could be covered in part by revenue gained from replacing several large meters and reduced maintenance costs. "Summarize it's about $10,000,000 over 15 years with $500,000 annual debt service," staff said.
Mark, utilities operations staff, briefed the panel on operational steps already taken to reduce water loss, including replacing large meters and aligning production and billing dates. He said those actions produced measurable gains and that the current reported loss is about 44 percent but that a realistic long-term goal is in the mid-20s percentage range. "We're about, I think, about 44% on the last update," Mark said. He added the committee has identified $3 million of engineered waterline projects ready for year one if the commission elects to accelerate work.
Staff also described equipment and personnel needs to accelerate projects: two pieces of specialized equipment (estimated at state contract prices) and three additional operations staff to operate the equipment. Commissioners and staff discussed buy vs. lease options and whether to offer new positions to current employees by attrition.
What happens next: Finance will present the budget and supporting capital lists at the April 16 work session, and staff will provide more-detailed line-item accounting and a running total of estimated waterline replacement costs before any final bond authorization.
