Long-term technological solutions for managing combined sewer overflows and innovations with labor, power and chemical costs will help the Department of Public Works offset a future decline in revenue brought on by the state's shift of tax money.

The City of South Bend also is looking to purchase specialized equipment that reduces labor costs and allows crews to complete work more effectively.

But facing a 27 percent loss of the city's general fund revenue at a time when commercial and residential growth in South Bend requires ongoing support for infrastructure, the 2009-2010 Public Works spending plan also includes more traditional solutions – a rate increase, staff reductions and some discontinued services.

The Public Works Department will reduce its 2009 budget by $500,000 with an additional $1.2-million reduction in 2010. The department has an added requirement to cut an additional $500,000 from its budget for each year after 2010. Overall, the department will reduce its staff by 7 in 2009 and 4 in 2010.

Although portions of the department are funded by user fees, the Engineering, Traffic & Lighting and Building Maintenance divisions are primarily supported by general funds in 2008. Some positions or services previously funded exclusively or substantially by the city's general fund will have at least half their expenses covered by the wastewater and/or water utilities.

Beginning in 2009, utilities will assume budget responsibility for other public-works services that impact utility services. These include:

• Engineers and inspectors who design sewer systems and supervise their construction.
• Sweeping of city streets and using salt to melt ice to reduce grit headed to the wastewater treatment plant.
• Underground utility locaters who mark utilities so city crews and contractors can work safely and avoid causing service outages.

Several services will be eliminated, according to the spending plan. The Building Maintenance division would be eliminated in 2010, while in 2009 the department will discontinue its fleet of city vehicles for city engineers. The Good Neighbors program – which allows 50-50 matches between property owners and the City for new curbs, sidewalks and driveway approaches – is being suspended after 14 years of full operation. The city's lamppost and historic streetlight efforts also will be cut.

South Bend's 533.5 lane miles of roadway will continue to be swept, cleaned, plowed and maintained. "Plowing the snow is not an optional service," said Gary Gilot, director of public works.

The city's 2008 paving program, initially budgeted at $1.8 million, is receiving an additional appropriation of $300,000 this year to address pothole problems caused by the toughest winter in years. About half of the planned paving for 2008 citywide is now completed, although the proportion varies among the six areas targeted by street crews.

Public works is looking to purchase a new circular saw that will cut time and cost from road resurfacing projects. The specialized equipment will allow crews to remove a manhole unit during road construction projects in 15 minutes rather than in six staff hours previously. Street crews also are looking to acquire customized equipment that allows them to install and activate traffic loops that trigger changes at traffic signals.

Each week, the City collects solid waste for nearly 34,000 customers, transporting the waste to two area landfills and a city disposal, while composting yard waste and participating in recycling through the Solid Waste Management District. Yet with increasing gas prices and landfill tipping fees, plus a need to replace city trucks and containers, rates for solid waste will increase in 2009. More than half of the fleet is 13 years old. Even with a 30 percent rate increase, the City's solid waste services are still priced below private, for-profit services in unincorporated areas.

The current rate of $8.80 per month will rise, upon Council approval, to $11.35 per month this year, to $11.69 in 2010 and $12.04 per month in 2011. Rates for seniors, now $5.50, represent a nearly 30 percent discount off regular rates. New amounts would be $8.05 per month this year, $8.29 in 2010 and $8.54 per month in 2011.

Also in the plans is a citywide change of older water meters to new automated meter-reading meters that will increase efficiency and allow for a reduction in the number of meter readers.

South Bend's water rate, last changed in 2006, is the sixth lowest among the state's 24 largest cities and towns. But the Council will consider a rate increase beginning in 2009. Residential and commercial growth citywide is expanding the city's 575-mile water distribution system. Growth on the city's south side will require additional investments to strengthen water pressure because of higher elevation.

The City plans to install two elevated tanks, booster pumps and a series of pressure-control valves between higher-pressure zones and the rest of the city. The $19 million project will include several miles of transmission and distribution mains and an additional source of supply well in the Erskine area.

South Bend's labor and cost of treating millions of gallons of wastewater and is among the lowest in a national survey. With 772 other U.S. cities, South Bend faces the challenge of combined sanitary and storm sewers. Over the next 20 years, the city is mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce combined sewer overflow by 85 percent. For South Bend, this would require $500 million in capital expenditures over the next two decades.

But with CSOnet, a network of embedded wireless sensors and computerized control systems, South Bend will become the first city in the world to integrate computerized sensors and motorized controls to prevent overflows. Over time, the city will invest $4 million in CSOnet infrastructure to avoid a projected $110 million in future capital expenses for the same level of environmental benefit.

The Council approved a four-step rate increase for 2006 through 2009. Discussions next year will explore rates for 2010-2013.

The city is improving the city's environmental quality while designing solutions that reduce pollution in ways that are less expensive to install and operate. In Leeper Park, odor from a sewer line that crosses under the St. Joseph River has been a challenge. But city engineers have designed a green solution that is being installed that would create a 1,500-square-foot odor filter under a flower bed at Riverside Drive and Lafayette Boulevard.

Contact:  Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564, Catherine Fanello, Controller, 235-9216, or Gary Gilot, Director of Public Works, 235-9251