Commonwealth Engineer Intern Sarah Prizio recently informed North Judson Town Council members about some additional funds that will be available for future use.
She noted that as Commonwealth reps were finishing up the Town’s asset management plan, it was discovered that they’re about $20,000 under budget for inspection services.
Prizio stated that Town officials can reallocate those funds for future miscellaneous engineering services related to their water system.
She explained, “It’s part of your loan and at this point, going back and refinancing under the loan is going to be more expensive in bond counsel fees.”
Prizio continued, “We recommend that you guys keep that in your back pocket, there’s really no expiration date and you can use it on anything from us coming up to make a site visit because you guys have questions to us doing a hydraulic model of your water system.”
She also alerted them about a new regulation that has been put in place by the Indiana Financing Authority (IFA) and emphasized that the Town’s extra funds could be utilized to get Commonwealth’s assistance with the new process.
She stated, “It’s the water audits and the validation of water audits. What the water audits are, they basically evaluate water loss in your system and it’s a tool to help the Water Utility maximum efficiency and minimize water loss so you stop wasting revenue.”
She noted that the IFA is recommending that municipalities conduct a water audit every year and they must have them validated them every other year. She noted that this requirement will go into effect August 1st of this year.
Prizio stressed that the Council didn’t have to make an immediate decision about how to spend the funds and provided members with Commonwealth’s scope of services and the associated fees.
