MILFORD – Faced with a $100,000 cut handed down by the state, Milford Town Council had to choose between taking it out of the current budget or next year’s. Council decided to cut from 2014 appropriations, which they split into $56,000 from the general fund and $59,000 from motor vehicle highway. They held a public hearing Monday for a 2015 budget of $1,684,402, which they will vote on next month. The loss in funding, due to a 10-percent drop in net assessed value, spurred council to look more closely for potential cost savings in many areas and to weigh wants against needs. They discussed Monday asking the Wawasee Community School Corp. to help cover the crossing guard fund, for instance, and asked Utilities Superintendent Randy Veach to prioritize either the new Bobcat he brought forward last month or a backup generator for the well field. He chose the generator, since they already have an older Bobcat. Council approved Monday a bid from Middlebury Electric Inc. for both a generator and transfer switches and wires at a cost of $36,000, over a total of $77,000 for the two items from L&M Electric. Councilman Dan Cochran voted against the purchase, remarking that the bid from Middlebury that the town received in April isn’t as detailed as L&M’s, and that the $41,000 difference concerned him. Also Monday, council voted to allow Biowaste Technology to pay a $16,000 surcharge in three installments. The company accrued the surcharge in recent months because of the volume of solids it was sending to the Milford wastewater treatment plant, which Veach said was more than their plant is designed to handle and costs more to get rid of than they charge for taking it. Owner Steve Morris protested the surcharge, saying he felt targeted as the new owner of the plant and that the company wasn’t aware of the problem until after it happened. “Amazing – till I bought it, there was no issue. I feel like you guys smell blood in the water,” he said. “I’m pretty sure this problem didn’t cost the city $16,000.” Milford adopted in January 2013 its first wastewater rate increase in a decade, which included a surcharge of up to $40.25 for residential customers and an extra 15 percent for customers outside the town. The increase was suggested by Umbaugh and Associates following a rate study. “I feel the data ties up any loose ends on our end,” councilman Doug Ruch told Morris. “We have proof-positive in front of us that substantiates the surcharges, so it seems to me the only real issue is how you’re going to pay the surcharges.”
