Kennett Township’s 2024 budget could include costs to contract for larger public works projects.
“This is a paradigm shift from what we’ve been,” Amy Heinrich, the township’s chief financial officer and treasurer, said at the Sept. 20 supervisors’ meeting.
Wednesday was the first of several budget debates for the rest of the year. The next meeting, on Oct. 4, will examine the operating budget, while the Oct. 18 meeting will deal with both operations and capital, according to Heinrich. On Nov. 1, the supervisors are expected to decide on tax rates and on Dec. 6, they are expected to formally approve the budget and review the five-year capital plan.
He explained that the current Public Works department focuses on maintenance, while the goal is to transform it into a department more suitable for construction by adding more equipment and specialized personnel. “Instead of traditional outsourcing, we recommend purchasing equipment and adding staff to accomplish this at a much lower cost. This will enable many types of critical projects and maintenance efforts needed as our infrastructure continues to age.”
New projects could include monitoring and maintaining Kennett Borough’s pumping stations, replacing damaged pipes or culverts before they become bigger problems, and improving drainage and sight distance, among other things.
“We’ve done maintenance and all the big projects are outsourced to outside engineers and contractors,” Heinrich said. But with Public Works Director Ted Otteni’s qualifications as a licensed professional engineer, “he can perform many of those supervisory roles.”
Otteni showed pictures of a damaged culvert on Hillendale Road near Hidden Pond.
“This is an example of a culvert that needs repair,” he said. “It will lead to bigger problems in the very near future.”
Another image was of a culvert on Davenport Road with a rotten bottom.
“We have to replace these things,” Otteni said. “Traditionally, these things are outsourced.”
But with more hiring, he added, “we could do it faster and more cost-effectively.”
In part of his budget presentation, Heinrich showed the difference in costs that might be available. For example, replacing the second half of the Davenport Road pipeline could cost $360,000 to outsource, compared to $50,000 if done in-house. Drainage improvements on McFarlan Road from Hillendale to Rosedale roads could cost $170,000 if outsourced and $120,000 if contracted by the public works department.
To make the “paradigm shift,” capital costs from 2023 to 2025 would include a new skid steer, a trailer, a backhoe, a 10-wheel dump truck, a Hydradig and an addition to the salt shed, according to Heinrich. The five-year cost of capital is projected to be $690,000.
More information on the in-sourcing proposal and capital project priorities can be found at kennett.pa.us in the Public Meeting Documents (in Government) section.
About Monica Fragale
Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance journalist who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when he began working at The Kennett Paper and, years later, Lansdale’s The Reporter and other newspapers. She turned to nonprofit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Freelance offers once again brought on the typing bug as her fingers gleefully tapped the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.
