nspencer@delphosherald.com

DELPHOS — Delphos will operate on a temporary budget after City Council passed an ordinance Monday extending the current budget through March 31, 2013.

Councilmen would like Safety Service Director Greg Berquist to revisit the General Fund account balances to shave off nearly $90,000 to bring the 2013 appropriations to the same as 2012 at $3,320,778. The appropriations now stand at $3,410,000.
By law, council must have a budget in place by April 1.

The city is also looking at its options after a failure in membrane plates at the wastewater treatment plant in August. When the plant was in its planning stages, city officials were told the plates would last at least 10 years and perhaps longer before they would need to be replaced. The plates in one of the trains at the plant are now failing and upon inspection, tears have been found in the membranes.
“If they have tears, they aren’t filtering anything,” Berquist said. “Everything is moving right through them and this is causing problems with our discharge. The numbers are off and we have to report it to the EPA.”