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Council approves $500,000 to cover wastewater plant shortfalls after reports of rain-related spikes and permit exceedances
Summary
After plant staff reported permit exceedances during heavy rain events, council approved a $500,000 transfer from reserves to cover unbudgeted wastewater costs—including consultant fees, extra testing, DEQ fines and higher sludge-disposal and chemical costs—by a 4–2 roll-call vote.
Town officials described a string of heavy rain events and intermittent equipment failures at the Colonial Beach wastewater treatment plant and asked the council on June 18 to approve a $500,000 transfer from reserves to cover unbudgeted operational costs for the rest of FY25.
John Simmons, who presented the plant report, said three significant rain events compressed flows into brief spikes ("1,000,000 gallons of flow comes to that plant in about 4 hours during a rain event"), which strains contact time through UV disinfection and has led to elevated Enterococcus results (permit limit 35; "we came in at 65 for the month"). He explained that high flows during storm events reduce disinfection contact time and that SCADA and PLC surge issues caused intermittent overflows that staff has been managing.
Town Manager Natasha Tucker and staff outlined unanticipated costs that drove the request: Bowman Consulting invoices related to consent-order work, additional testing required by the consent order, DEQ assessments and penalties, higher sludge-disposal fees at the King George landfill and increased chemical usage. Manager Tucker said sewer fund reserves remain within the town's policy target; the $500,000 transfer would reduce but not breach the sewer fund's balance.
Councilors pressed staff on whether the shortfall could have been foreseen. "It's a half-million dollars; how did we not know during the year?" one resident asked during public comment. Staff said Davenport and staff had flagged a negative sewer fund balance in April and raised shortfalls during the May budget process; the appropriation request aims to avoid repeated emergency asks.
The council approved the transfer by roll call: Wood, Larson, Sanford and Allison voted aye; Williams and Grandstaff voted no. The mayor and manager said ongoing planning (rate adjustments, CIP planning and operational fixes at the plant) will be part of the FY26 budget and capital plan work.
What happens next: Staff will post the appropriation in the sewer fund, continue equipment and SCADA repairs, proceed with inflow/infiltration investigations, and work with consultants and county DEQ contacts to reduce the likelihood of future permit exceedances.
