A budget for the next fiscal year was approved by the Pearl River County Utility Authority Board of Directors during Thursday’s meeting.

The total budgeted revenue for the next fiscal year is projected to be a bit less than $4.1 million, of which $219,000 will come from water services, $3.7 million will come from wastewater services and $162,800 will be collected as fees and other revenue.

Executive Director Ray Scott presented a total budget, with expenses and depreciation, of $4.8 million, of which $1.2 million will be net income before depreciation. He expects a budget deficit, or net income after depreciation, of $766,200.

At the end of this year, he said the Utility Authority would have about $1.7 million in the cash balance account. But by the end of the next fiscal year, that total is expected to be about $416,000.

The Board approved a motion to adopt the budget as presented by Scott.

In other business, smoke testing of the sewer lines is ongoing in the city of Poplarville to determine where repairs need to be made. Director of Field Operations Alan Howe said he expects that part of the work to be complete by year’s end. The aim of the smoke testing is to find leaks in the system so they can be repaired. Howe said that the last time the area experienced a significant rain event, the treatment system took in 1.8 million gallons of water, three times more than when it doesn’t rain.

“We know we have issues (in Poplarville), we just got to locate them,” Howe said.

As far as repairs in Picayune are concerned, there were two sinkholes in the city that needed to be addressed. One was on Telly Road and the other was on Poplar Street. The problems were fixed last week, but required extensive work because the damaged lines were buried 13 and 26 feet respectively.

The next meeting will be Oct. 19, at 2:30 p.m. at the treatment facility on Neal Road in Picayune.