Chad McCann with Rivercrest Engineering, presented a Capital Improvements Projects Summary for Sanitation District 1 and 2 last year during a fiscal court meeting in Benton. McCann returned to court Wednesday to update commissioners on the project.
Marshall County Fiscal Court adopted the county’s 2017 tax rates Wednesday during a special-called court meeting in Benton.
During the Aug. 15 Fiscal Court meeting, Treasurer Emily Martin recommended the county assess 9.6 cents per $100 of assessed value on both real and personal property taxes, down from the 9.7 cents assessed on real and 9.8 cents on personal property last year. Rates for 2017 will generate about $1.8 million in county revenues on real property and $307,645 on personal property for the general fund, an overall increase of $10,684 in anticipated revenues from last year.
Commissioners unanimously confirmed the following rates in the county:
Real Estate – All values calculated are levied per $100 of assessed property value
9.6 cents for the general fund; 7.25 cents per $100 for the health district; 3.8 cents for the hospital district; 9.4 cents for the library district; 9.1 cents for the refuse disstrict; 1.8 cents for the extension district; .5 cents for soil conservation district; 7.5 cents for Gilbertsville Fire District; 9.4 cents for East Marshall Fire District; 6.8 cents for Possum Trot-Sharpe Fire District; 10 cents for Briensburg/Draffenville/Palma Fire District; 7.5 cents for West Marshall Fire District; 10 cents for Fairdealing-Olive Fire District; and 9.5 cents for South Marshall Fire District.
Tangible property – All values calculated are levied per $100 of assessed property value
9.6 cents for the general fund; 7.25 cents per $100 for the health district; 4.3 cents for the hospital district; 9.65 cents for the library district; 9 cents for the refuse district; 1.85 cents for the extension district; none for soil conservation district; 7.5 cents for Gilbertsville Fire District; 9.4 cents for East Marshall Fire District; 6.8 cents for Possum Trot-Sharpe Fire District; 10 cents for Briensburg/Draffenville/Palma Fire District; 7.5 cents for West Marshall Fire District; 10 cents for Fairdealing-Olive Fire District; and 9.5 cents for South Marshall Fire District.
Motor vehicle and watercraft tax rates were set at 11.2 cents per $100 of assessed property value for 2018, according to the county’s tax ordinance. In addition, the county will assess a .0025 tax per 1 percent on bank deposits held by all financial institutions in the county.
Real estate values in the county were assessed at more than $1.87 billion in the county for the year; tangible property values were assessed at more than $229 million. Motor vehicle assessments were certified at more than $261 million; commercial watercraft was assessed at $24.9 million and non-commercial watercraft was valued at $74.4 million in the county. According to the tax rate calculation report, total assessed value of property in the county subject to full local tax rates comes to about $2.2 billion.
In addition to adopting the year’s tax rate, the court voted to take the next steps in the county’s sanitation infrastructure improvement. The county has been working to overhaul and upgrade infrastructure to address sanitation problems in districts 1 and 2 located in Aurora and Draffenville, respectively. Estimates provided in 2016 by Rivercrest Engineering, the firm later tapped to spearhead the rehabilitation project, had topped more than $7.5 million overall.
It’s a project the county will take in smaller phases, prioritizing the most pressing needs. Rivercrest project engineer Chad McCann presented bids on Wednesday to the court in the next step of the project: replacing lift stations in Aurora.
The court awarded the bid, as Rivercrest recommended, to Mayfield-based Youngblood Excavating and Contracting at an amended bid amount of just over $644,000. That total was a marked increase from initial estimates of about $500,000 for that phase of rehabilitation.
“Initially whenever we presented this proposal and the proposed project to the fiscal court back a little over a year ago, we didn’t include the aspect of a standby generator at these lift stations,” McCann said. “When we got into our evaluations we found it was necessary to have that. I know … operator has had a couple of instances when he’s gone to Aurora, been bouncing back and forth between Draffenville and Aurora, and then identified that he had a power outage down there. He didn’t have any backup power at a lift station and therefore it caused an overflow in the sanitary system, which had to be addressed. If a generator would have been on site it would have been taken care of automatically through a diesel-powered generator system (that would have) kept the system functioning properly and kept everything flowing.”
Manual and automatic transfer switches also contributed to the additional cost, however McCann said Rivercrest had negotiated with Youngblood to size down proposed generators to meet the needs of each station while trimming costs.
According to Purchase Area Development District documents, the scope of work in 2013 when initially filed in obtaining Delta Regional Authority funds to help replace and rehabilitate lift stations, those stations were located at St. Henry’s Catholic Church, Willow Pond, Brass Lantern, Cherokee Lane and Lakeland Resort in Aurora.
“Project will consist of replacing the existing lift station pumps, guide rail systems, control panel and float switches,” the project description on file states. “The electrical panels, transfer switches and disconnect will be replaced. The wet well will be repaired as needed, epoxy sealed to limit infiltration and have a new concrete top and access hatch installed.”
McCann said much of that work would have been rehabilitation of existing lift stations, with the exception of one at Lakeland Resort. However, after further review engineers determined that stations were too small to meet the current standards and eventual capacity demands.
View the full fiscal court meeting and additional business here.