Funds re-appropriated for overtime wages, other expenses

Several departments in the city of Amherst will receive re-appropriated funding due to unforeseen expenses, according to Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow and Auditor Derek Pittak.

Departments receiving additional funding for various expenditures include police, fire, building, law, office on aging, water, sewer, Water Pollution Control Center and utilities.

Costilow said during a Council meeting Sept. 17, a majority of the re-appropriations will be used to compensate overtime wages as the city is seeking a speedy finish to its Smart Meter Project.

“What we’re doing is to try to speed up the process,” Costilow said. “A lot of our employees are working overtime. So, it’s actually money that we’ll be saving in the meter project ... It’s just gonna help get the process done faster, get the meters in the houses quicker.”

The heftiest re-appropriation is in the water department for $25,000, which will be used for overtime wages.

The water department’s overtime is contributed to the meter project.

During a council meeting Sept. 10, several complaints were heard from Amherst residents concerning an increase in electric and water expenses after the new meters were installed.

Robert Eiborg reported that since the new meters were installed, his electric bill doubled.

Jessica Roberts said that she owns a vacant home, which saw a 400 percent increase on the electric bill after a slight drop in electric usage.

Council advised residents to have a report run and contact Ward 1 Councilman Brian Dembinski or the utilities department with questions regarding their rates and usage.

In addition to the meter project, overtime wages have been re-appropriated to the Fire Department due to an increase in fire runs which have required more part-time volunteers, Pittak said.

The Fire Department also will receive an increase of $32,500 from the general fund for part-time wages and gasoline and oil.

Additional commercial plan review also has needed fund re-appropriation, Costilow said.

“We’ve been having a lot of commercial building going on, so we’ll need more engineers to review our plans than expected,” he said.

Also, $1,000 will be taken from repair and maintenance to fund the commercial plan reviews.