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FEDERALSBURG - The Federalsburg Mayor and Council voted to tabled action on Ordinance No. 2026-02, an ordinance to amend the water and sewer rates, until an internal comprehensive review and audit of the system and billing is complete.
Ordinance No. 2026-02 was given a public hearing before the start of the regular town workshop, with no comments specifically about the rates. Former Federalsburg Police Chief Donald Nagel shared his concern about the impact of any increase on users who are struggling financially. Councilperson Darlene Hammond said that she will workshop with Nagel to find programs that could help offset the costs of the water bills.
Staff is reviewing the water and sewer billing system, looking for anomalies and in some cases looking at the physical infrastructure to ensure that users are being billed fairly. Most of the residential users have been reviewed, and the commercial and industrial checks are underway. Prior town Councilman, Stephen Bollinger, is analyzing the information and data from the review and plugging into an analysis system to determine the impact of corrected usage and billing on the water and sewer operations budget.
Councilperson Brandy James stated that the outcomes thus far from the audit and review have not been provided to the Mayor and Council, therefore, she feels that taking a vote on Ordinance 2026-02 is premature. The ordinance calls for a range of rate increases, and James noted that without accurate analysis, the Mayor and Council cannot know which rate increases are best for the users and best for the town. She also asked if anyone has “gone through the water and sewer budget line by line” to determine whether there are possible cost savings.
The Mayor and Council voted to table action on Ordinance 2026-02 until “better numbers” are provided, possibly until the May workshop.
Jennifer Dindinger, an Associate with the town’s contracted law firm, Booth, Cropper & Marriner, PC, encouraged
Mayor and Council to decide on bond counsel, which is a condition put forth by Maryland Department of the Environment for funding of the pump station upgrades. Mayor and Council directed Dindinger to draft a Request for Qualifications to engage bond counsel, and although it may take more time to go through the process, it will allow for the FY2024 financial audit to be completed, which is another condition of funding request from MDE.
Mayor Kim Abner announced that the Town Manager recruitment effort netted two applicants, neither of whom meet the qualifications. The Mayor and Council determined to hire internally and anticipated making that decision in a closed session immediately following the workshop.
The soon-to-be announced Town Manager will work with staff to continue the process on the FY2026 budget modification that remains outstanding. Mayor Abner directed Interim Town Treasurer, Leslie Fraley, to work on plugging in figures to continue the process of coming up with a final FY2026 budget as the Mayor and Council begin looking at FY2027 budget.
