The McCall City Council last Thursday approved a plan to spend much of a $539,000 surplus of city funds on road improvements and sewer projects.
The council voted unanimously to use a list of expenditures drafted by city staff to allocate a $453,000 surplus in the city's general fund and an $86,000 in the city's streets and public works fund.
Last month, the council directed staffers to come up with a prioritized list of projects on which the surplus could be spent. The council generally wanted to see the money fund paving and sewer projects and a study of whether the city could justify charging impact fees to developers.
The $40,000 impact fee study will be funded by the surplus, as will the city's $15,000 contribution toward a county-wide assessment of housing inventory and needs. Paving will get the bulk of the surplus, with the following projects approved:
• $32,500 to pave Pine-Wooley Connector, including a detached bike path. The street was built last fall with a gravel base.
• $64,750 to pave Ernesto Drive in Rio Vista.
• $12,850 to pave Gena Way in Rio Vista.
• $24,250 to pave Carico Road from Agate Street to Flynn Lane. Residents of the Rio Vista neighborhood have been complaining for years that they were annexed into the city in the early 1990s but that the city never delivered on a promise of paved roads.
Much of the rest of the surplus will go toward fixing McCall's current sewer problems. City officials have stopped guaranteeing sewer service to new developments because of concerns that the city's sewer system is reaching capacity.
So the city will spend $86,667 to fund its share of a $130,000 sewer facility plan, with the rest of thecost assumed to be paid by the Payette Lakes Recreational Sewer District.
A study of sewer rates will be funded with $45,000. And more than $71,000 will be spent to fix the sewer capacity problems, including the repair of sewer lines that allow water into the system.
Other targets of the surplus include a fund for bike paths along Deinhard Lane, a fund for development of Riverfront Park, improvements to the McCall Golf Course clubhouse parking lot, and lead testing and abatement in city hall because of the old police firing range in the basement.
More than $75,000 will be spent on a joint project with developers of the River Ranch subdivision to flatten a large dip in Mission Street just south of the McCall Smokejumper Base.
Council members held little discussion on the list and complimented city staffers on the projects they chose to include in the funding recommendation. McCall City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said he hopes all projects on the list will be done by Oct. 1.
An amendment to the city's budget will be needed to spend the money, and the council will have to hold a public hearing on the amendment.
What was funded, not funded with surplus
Here is a list of projects and their costs that will be funded by the $539,000 surplus in the city's general fund and streets and public works fund:
• $40,000 for an impact fee study.
• $15,000 for the city's contribution to a county-wide housing needs assessment.
• $35,000 for lead abatement and testing in the old police firing range in the basement of city hall.
• $75,279 for the city's contribution to repair the large dip in Mission Street just south of town. The River Ranch subdivision is also helping to fund the project.
• $5,000 to fully fund the city's Valley County Court Services agreement.
• $32,500 to pave Pine-Wooley Connector, including a detached bike path.
• $64,750 to pave Ernesto Drive in Rio Vista.
• $12,850 to pave Gena Way in Rio Vista.
• $24,250 to pave Carico Road from Agate Street to Flynn Lane.
• $86,667 for a sewer facility plan. (Assumes the Payette Lakes Recreational Sewer District pays for one-third of $130,000 cost).
• $45,000 for a sewer rate study.
• $71,154 for sewer capacity improvement projects including repair of leaking sewer lines.
• $15,000 to repair the parking lot at the McCall Golf Course clubhouse.
• $7,000 placed in reserve for development of proposed Riverfront Park.
• $10,000 placed in reserve for engineering and development of a bike path along Deinhard Lane.
Unfunded projects
Here are projects that were considered by city staff for funding by the surplus, but were not considered a high enough priority and will not be funded:
• $8,000 to fund overtime worked on major police investigations.
• $23,000 to fund a narcotics detective for McCall Police Department.
• $23,000 to replace a police car that was totaled in a crash earlier this month.
• $85,000 for a dump truck.
• $61,500 to pave Flynn Lane.
• $64,100 to pave Chipmunk Lane.
• $64,100 to pave Conifer Lane.
• $26,850 to pave Carmen Drive.
• $335,000 to extend sewer lines across the McCall Airport.
• $28,265 to pay off a local-improvement district parcel.
