Nevada council passes 2016 budget

Nevada Daily Mail

The Nevada City Council held a public hearing, with no one in attendance, followed by a unanimous vote to give preliminary approval to the city's 2016 Municipal Budget during Tuesday night's meeting.

The $16.32 million budget includes $4.9 million for personnel, $4.99 million for supplies and services, $1.26 million for capital outlays, $2.74 million for capital projects, $1.75 million for debt service and $659,000 for inter-fund transfers.

In other business the council:

* Voted 5-0 to accept the sole bid of $10,393.46 to replace scrubber No. 1 at the water treatment plant, from the manufacturer, Harrington Industrial Plastics. The scrubbers remove hydrogen sulfide gas from the well water. The No. 1 scrubber removes about 82.5 percent, with the No. 2 scrubber removing the remaining 17.5 percent. Scrubber No. 1 has been in continuous operation for 31 years with no changes or upgrades to the originally installed media. Replacing the existing media will increase the efficiency of scrubber No. 1 to 97.8 percent, which will reduce chemical usage.

* Voted 5-0, to accept the low bid of $17,883 from Industrial Process Systems to replace the No. 4 high service pump, which pumps drinking water from the 800,000 gallon clear well to the distribution system. This pump has been in service for 30 years and reached the end of its useful life.

* Voted 5-0, to pass on first reading a special ordinance approving a five-year renewable contract with Alliance Water Resources at a cost of $135,975.50 per month for the period of Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2016 for a total cost of $1,631,706. The agreement also calls for Alliance having a repair limit of $73,000 and a chemical limit of $93,000 for 2016.

* Voted 5-0, to pass on first reading a general ordinance increasing the city's sewer and sewage fees by 1 percent to cover the cost of operations, capital improvements and to maintain adequate reserve funds. This change will increase the average residential sewer bill by 38 cents

* Voted 5-0, to pass on first reading a general ordinance increasing the city's water rates by 3 percent to cover the cost of operations, capital improvements, and to maintain adequate reserve funds. This will increase the average residential water bill by $1.4.

* Voted 5-0, to pass on first reading a special ordinance releasing the neighborhood improvement district assessment on 167 Country Club Drive that has been paid in full.

* Voted 5-0, to pass on first reading a special ordinance setting a new fee structure for the Frank E. Peters Municipal Golf Course as follows: Adult season pass, increased from $475 to $485; senior season pass, $375 to $383; additional pass, $250 to $255; student pass, $135 to $138; college pass, $175 to $180; family pass without a cart, $750 to $765; family pass with cart, $1,275 to $1,300; season cart, $650 to $660 and annual trail fee, $500 to $525.

* Voted 5-0, to give final approval to a special ordinance approving an engineering consultation services related to the city's pretreatment program update. The cost of these services are not to exceed $17,000.