At the May 20 council meeting, Operations Manager Eric Seib gave council members a snapshot budget report, showing the town's mid-year budget numbers.
Seib said the Local Option Gas Tax was much higher than what it has been at $23,000 and the franchise tax, which became incorporated this year, is at $24,000.
The town was awarded a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which accounts for most of the $800,000 increase in the budget this year so far, Seib said. The town has received $28,050 in municipal aid and there is an increase of $15,000 for miscellaneous income.
Water sales account for the town being $21,000 ahead, which is 10 percent ahead of schedule, according to Seib.
The sewer fund is at $36,000 and the gas fund is at $40,000, although it will taper off with warm weather, he said.
Jay's new budget of $1,983,094 is almost $800,000 more than original budget, with $600,000 coming from CDBG.
Expenditures include the $600,000 to come back out for repairs and maintenance of water infrastructure.
Mayor Shon Owens made a motion to amend the budget, which was seconded by Maxine Ivey. A;; voted in favor, so the motion carried.
In other business, Jay's well #1, on School Street, where the town has plans to build an enclosed structure to house the automation system for the well, will be funded with a grant that expires June 30.
“We can't build a building in a month,” said Seib. “But we can get an extension. That is the great news.” Seib said the things to consider are contractor availability, parts, etc. and asked if Dec. 31, 2019 is favorable to the council.
There was some question as to what the next step is, whether to put out for electrical bids now or after the building is started and Owens said the building permit is in hand. Seib said questions like size in, size out and components to get going need to be addressed.
“We need to get an electrician probably to be looking at this and get someone on board,” said Owens. “I apologize. I was under the impression we had a couple of people looking at it. We could start tomorrow if we wanted to. The concern right now that I have with the electrical is just making sure they are agreeable to what the engineer put in place, which 99.9 percent of the time is not.”
Dewberry's Crystal Weatherington asked Owens how long he thought it would take to have the contractor on site and Owens said it would not take long to pour the slab and that at that point they will need an electrician to work with on installing the electrical conduit.
The council agreed to advertise for electrical bids to move forward on getting the building finished by Dec. 31, 2019.
