WATER, SEWER AND STREETS BUREAU

PROGRAM MISSION: The mission of the Water, Sewer Streets Bureau is to maintain the County's streets, sidewalks, and storm water infrastructure.

The General Fund program includes Street Maintenance, Storm Sewer Maintenance and emergency responses related to opening roadways and storm drainage systems.

• Contract Concrete Maintenance is focused in three areas: low-density residential, high-density residential and commercial, and maintenance before paving. The goal of the maintenance-before-paving effort is to repair concrete curbs, gutters, and sidewalks prior to repaving streets. The low-density residential effort is intended to correct deficiencies in concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks in low-density residential zones on a six-year cycle. The high-density assessment program repairs concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks in higher density zones at the expense of adjoining property owners. Revenues partially offset expenses in this effort.

• Capital Construction is estimated to be approximately 19 percent of the Bureau's total efforts; however over 50 percent of the expenditures in this program are offset by charges made to capital projects. This enables the Department of Environmental Services to have resources to perform capital construction projects, as well as perform maintenance work for other agencies, such as Arlington County Schools and for the Parks and Natural Resources Division where feasible. The equipment and personnel are then available for emergencies such as snowstorms, and other (typically) weather-related events.

• General Maintenance is primarily focused on asphalt maintenance, bus shelter maintenance, graffiti removal and miscellaneous concrete maintenance. Asphalt maintenance ranges from pothole patching to full excavation and replacement, depending on existing conditions. These personnel and equipment are also used to respond to snow and other emergencies.

• Utility Patching is budgeted as a part of the capital construction effort. This program repairs asphalt and concrete after crews make cuts in the pavement for water or sewer related repairs. All work performed in this effort is charged to the Utilities Fund (personnel and non-personnel expenses).

• Emergency (Snow) Response is also funded in this program, and it relies primarily on the equipment and personnel that perform the other tasks. Snow is estimated to be about ten percent of the budget effort on average, but this estimate only includes the cost of materials, overtime, and work by staff in other divisions or programs. The cost of the vehicles and staff time has typically been budgeted in the other crews, such as capital construction and maintenance.

• Storm Sewer Maintenance includes catch basin cleaning and pipe inspection, repairs to damaged or failed pipes, structures, and the cleaning of blocked lines and street lines. The storm drainage effort includes maintenance to open channels when necessary, and removal of vegetation along the Four Mile Run flood control project.

Positions and vehicles are now allotted to specific efforts, but employees are assigned and scheduled to respond to County needs. For example, during a snowstorm, all employees and equipment will be engaged in snow removal efforts. Following the storm, they typically have to focus more efforts on repairing asphalt that was damaged by the winter weather. During the summer construction season, more efforts are focused on capital work and work for others, and in the fall, some vehicle drivers work with the Solid Waste Bureau on leaf collection.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Personnel increases reflect normal salary and benefits adjustments and implementation of a new trades worker pay pilot.

• Non-personnel decreases are primarily due to a reduction in the commercial concrete maintenance program ($107,000).

• The decrease in revenue reflects an adjustment to the budget based on actual revenue collected. FY 2004 actual revenue includes Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) reimbursement for cost of Hurricane Isabel.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• Pavement rating is determined by regular inspection and evaluation of street conditions and calculated on a County-wide basis through the pavement management software. On a scale of 1-100, a condition rating of 70 to 75 is considered good.

• Emergency operations costs for FY 2004 included 10 snow events and Hurricane Isabel which required debris cleanup for over 30 days.

• At the end of FY 2002, $206,091 was approved for carryover on the Storm Sewer Cleaning contract. This caused the linear feet inspected in FY 2003 and FY 2004 to increase by more than two-thirds. In FY 2005, the linear footage will reflect the normal inspection rates.

• For FY 2003, the reduction in tons of asphalt placed in the paving program is a result of the decrease in capital funding. The Paving Program (CIP Funding) completed approximately 36 lane miles of resurfacing, one lane mile of complete rebuilding, and 36 lane miles of Slurry Seal in the 2004 paving season.

FUTURE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS:

• New salt storage facilities for the Trades Center and the northern part of the County need to be considered in future Capital Improvement Program Budgets, along with funding for maintenance to keep them operational.