Forks Approves Additional Public Works Funding

Editor's Note -- This is the first of a four-part series taking a look at Forks Township's new public works facility.

Forks Township's new is supposed to be state-of-the-art.

And that tag usually means costly -- as in $1.6 million over budget.

But Finance Director James Farley recently came up with a way to cover that $1.6 milllion without the project having more of an impact on taxpayers, who were already on the hook for $4 million.

With some fine line item maneuvers, Farley -- with an assist from Township Manager John Cornell -- believes he closed the gap.

The township is taking from three funding sources: $942,000 from its old sewer authority account, borrowing $500,000 from the general fund over a 20-year period at 1 percent interest, and transfering $240,386 from capital reserve.

"I think we have a close number that I feel pretty confident that we'll meet our budget amount," he said.