The Hillsborough Board of Commissioners met Monday, Feb. 23, at the Town Hall Annex. Following is a brief summary of noteworthy actions. It does not include all actions taken at the meeting and should not be viewed as official minutes.

The meeting is available to view on the town’s YouTube channel. See the agenda packet for more information.

Appointments

The board reappointed Victoria Pace and Commissioner Meaghun Darab to the Tourism Development Authority for terms expiring Jan. 31. Darab is the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners’ representative to the appointed board.

Special Event

The board approved a special event permit for Independent Animal Rescue’s fundraising event The Fast and the Furriest 5K on the Riverwalk greenway. The event will be 9 a.m. to noon April 12 and will include a 1-mile walk. The races will start and end at Eno River Brewing. Organizers expect about 100 people to attend.

Projects

The board approved:

• A resolution to formally apply for $1 million of federal funding to be granted to the town to design and construct a new water disinfection system. The project is expected to cost about $2 million. Rep. Valerie Foushee submitted the project to the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations. See the news release on the federal funding.
• Increasing the budget to replace the Elizabeth Brady Road culvert by $20,000 to fund engineering services to better define the scope of the project and determine the size of pipe needed.

Budget Work Session

The board continued its budgetary planning for the next fiscal year.

Affordable Housing Funds Request

The board approved providing $300,000 over the next three fiscal years from the town’s affordable housing fund to support Cedar Village, a proposed affordable housing project with 72 units. The nonprofit organization CASA requested the funds to help secure an award from the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. A funding commitment from the town was needed by mid-May. The project would serve residents earning between 30 and 60% of the area median income. It would be integrated with veterans housing and coordinated entry programs.

Water and Sewer Rate Structure

The board received a presentation on the town’s water and sewer rate structure and three alternative options from the financial consulting firm Raftelis.

The firm recommends increasing water and sewer rates by 7.5% over the next three fiscal years to maintain debt coverage and to have 365 days of cash on hand for emergencies. A representative noted that operating costs for water and sewer systems are trending higher nationwide and that the town’s operations and maintenance costs are about 20% higher than last fiscal year, due in part to flooding from Tropical Storm Chantal in July.

The firm also presented options for moving to a rate structure with both a charge for volume of use and a flat fee for billing and customer service costs. The three rate options include a flat account charge plus:

• A minimum charge for the first 2,000 gallons used.
• A charge for the amount used with no minimum number of gallons set.
• Tiered pricing for the number of gallons used.

Following discussion, the board asked staff to bring forth additional options and additional information on the system’s fixed costs beyond customer service and billing.

Other

The board also:

• Received a mid-year update on the town’s strategic plan, including the status of initiatives for this fiscal year.
• Continued a review of the town’s nonprofit funding process. The board approved a revised policy for the program with text clarifying the need for projects to highly align with the town’s strategic objectives.
• Discussed how the board and staff work together.