08-17-16 Personnel and Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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In regard to the forty -five percent (45 %) water rate increase, Mr. Horvath assured the Council that various meetings would occur with stakeholders and the Council to determine what those prices would need to be in order to improve the Capital Fund to meet the before mentioned capital needs. Since the last rate increase, the Waterworks Department has reduced staff by sixteen (16) positions and found ways to do more with less. Increases in administrative fees have strained the department and are $1 million more than they were in 2006. Deferred maintenance continues and will become a significant issue in the future if not addressed. Our pumping capacity was about 70 million gallons of water a day, now that's at 40 million because we have pumps and wells that we cannot run because they're dead. Peak demand is about 26 million gallons a day, so we are still meeting our peaks but it can become a future issue if we don't maintain equipment and assets. Pumpage has gone down because we see a lot more people and businesses conserving water than used to. We have money to replace equipment at Olive which is coming out of the Lost Recovery Fund which a special fund set up for that purpose. We have $960,000 budgeted for meter replacement. Meters have a useful lifespan of two (2) years, and we're losing a lot of revenue to replace meters that freeze up or malfunction, so we're budgeting for a Meter Replacement Program. The department is also looking into updating software which causes problems in the billing office. The Wastewater and Organic Resources facility processes 48 million gallons per day with a peak 70 million gallons, and processes over 11 billion gallons of wastewater per year. Fifty percent (50 %) of our sewer system is a CSO system. We also renovated an old 1956 digester and fitted it with a moving cover roof that collects natural gas which will power boilers, but will also be used for our CNG fleet. We have four (4) digesters and we've only renovated one (1). We're currently operating with one (1) digester and a back -up. Primary clarifiers were also built in 1956 and need updating and automation in order to be controlled remotely. On the wastewater side, we have 39 million in expenses which has gone up from 37.5 million in 2016. The increase is mainly attributed to pay in lieu of taxes, and debt service payments from the debt we've taken on from sewer bonds. The full wastewater budget has an increase in revenue because the Ethanol Plant is producing more waste than originally projected. The requested amount is 32 million for wastewater which asks for 4 million in capital to continue the clarifier project, and work on wastewater stations. The department also intends to start a check valve program which is a cost -share program for people who have back -ups in basements from combined sewers. The department is also working hard to implement a long -term program to save on the cost - share. The only way to eliminate the problem is to completely separate the CSO system which is a billion dollar program. Since the City can't afford a billion dollars, we went forward with the consent decree to look at some other options which have been put on hold since it would raise the rates to a degree that we're not comfortable with. In lieu of doing a billion dollar program, this program will hopefully help residents mitigate the problem. 10