Engineering budget requests modest increases for repairs, stormwater compliance and energy planning

City engineer (presented as Givvani Z.) told alder members the engineering department’s general fund budget is focused on personnel and repairs/maintenance for city buildings and infrastructure. He described the year as a non-capital cycle and identified a modest net increase that the presentation labeled as roughly $102,000, with $100,000 targeted to the repairs-and-maintenance line to keep up with the living wage and rising contract costs.

He outlined ongoing stormwater work tied to the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and said the stormwater budget remains at about $575,000 for catch-basin cleaning and related compliance activities. He also described routine HVAC and elevator replacements coming from capital allocations and noted the department is frequently able to use capital funds as matching money for grants.

Alders pressed on fees and utility procurement. The engineer confirmed the city charges a stormwater connection fee for new site connections and explained energy procurement is managed through an energy committee that hedges electricity purchases in blocks to reduce exposure to market price spikes. "When you buy in blocks like that, if for some reason the price drops lower than what's in the block, you are locked in," he said, describing the tradeoffs between predictability and market timing.

Committee members also asked about staffing, a soon-to-be-filled time-management/administrative assistant position, and capital needs; the engineer said several near-term facility repairs (for example, two HVAC units with failed heat exchangers) are being scheduled and that the city will publish updated capital reports with line‑by‑line spending on April 28.

No formal vote occurred; alder members requested the capital and expenditure breakout when it is released.