Town forwards new property maintenance code and FRPD radio purchase

Town Finance Director B.J. Wilson’s work session advice on funding the FRPD radio purchase was followed by council at its October 22 meeting. Photos/Roger Bianchini

On Monday evening, October 22, the Front Royal Town Council moved forward on a trio of long discussed projects – a new property maintenance code (5-1 vote, Tewalt dissenting); purchase of a $545,000 digital radio system for the town police department (unanimous vote); and a $43,900 expenditure to proceed with an alternate north corridor waterline feasibility study (again unanimous).

A fourth annual “housekeeping” item, approval of writing off what are considered uncollectable bad debts after seven years, was also approved.  That 2018 write off will remove $166,191 of bad debt off the town ledger.  Included in that uncollectable bad debt were 358 delinquent utility accounts.

Such an annual accounting was recommended by the Town’s auditing firm, Mitchell & Company, staff noted.  The purpose of removal of long-standing debt that meets certain accounting criteria qualifying it as uncollectable is two-fold: 1/ reducing the amount of bad debt on the Town books; 2/ which can in turn help to more accurately assess town utility service rates, according to a staff summary.

While that vote was also unanimous, Councilman William Sealock suggested that council re-examine its bad debt write-off policy at a coming work session.  Sealock said his reading of the policy indicated that the Town was not utilizing all means at its disposal to go after significant unpaid bills.  Sealock suggested council explore wage garnishment as an expanded means of going after larger debts cited in the $3,000 range.  He also observed that there appeared to be a mix of some commercial bad debt that might offer other means of collection.

Back on the project and service approval front, of particular interest was how a council majority voted to fund those expenditures, though with the property maintenance code actual costs of council’s first step toward enacting additional authority it has sought in the way of property maintenance enforcement is still a matter of debate and the coming experience of enforcement reality.

On the FRPD digital radio purchase council took Finance Director B.J. Wilson’s advice that due to existing or anticipated shortfalls in all the Town’s general and enterprise fund surpluses the purchase be made through a 10-year external loan through the Virginia Municipal League/Virginia Association of Counties (VML/VACO). See Related Story

At an October 15 work session Wilson said the state municipal group had acquired a favorable 3.389% interest rate that would not be available if council failed to act now to participate in the municipal group bond issue.  The staff-suggested option of the VML/VACO loan would require a decade of annual payments of $65,305.46, with a 10-year interest payment total of about $106,650.

Councilman Jacob Meza noted that he had missed the October 15 work session but had discussed the Town fund balance issues with Wilson and accepted the logic of pursuing the external loan at this time.  However Meza suggested at a future point when fund balance reserves were restored to acceptable levels, council revisit an internal loan in order to pay off the interest-generating VML/VACO loan early.

The north corridor redundant water line feasibility study will be funded out of the water department enterprise fund balance.  And while the $43,900 cost is not a threat to that enterprise fund balance surplus of $5.3 million, work session discussion indicated the as-yet-determined total redundant water line project cost may well be. See Related Story

For while the Town’s biggest water user, the north corridor’s Dominion Power Plant, has committed $3.5 million to the project, town staff has noted that a two-year-old project cost estimate of $5.5 million is obsolete due to steadily-rising construction costs.

Responding to a question from Vice-Mayor Eugene Tewalt, staff estimated a 3 to 6-month turnaround on the feasibility study.

The red line to upper left of photo representing the lone Town central water line into the 522 North Corridor will eventually have a companion line once a preferred route is established. Council authorized $43,900 for a study to determine the redundant line’s recommended path north.