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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> Councilmember Tim Scott left the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
<br /> Mr. Horvath went on, On the revenue side of Water Works, it went up about $500,000, $476,000.
<br /> That is because the water rate increase you implemented, because it was implemented after the
<br /> first (1st) quarter, 2019 had three (3) months of the old rate and then nine (9) months of the new
<br /> rate. 2020 will have twelve (12) months of the new rate and so that is why it is up slightly. So,
<br /> revenues overall,what transfers in on the water works side, about$900,000 for 2020. Our expense
<br /> side, you can see (referencing the presentation) that we have a lower debt service of about
<br /> $195,000. That is because of two (2) leases that rolled off on the water meters or will roll off in
<br /> 2020. That is why that went down. Then other expenses, $460,000, that went down primarily
<br /> because we had our billing software and Quest SMS program built into that line-item. That is why
<br /> you see such a large decrease there. Overall, I think one(1)thing I'd like to point out here is if you
<br /> look at our operating income,you can see(referencing the presentation)that we have about roughly
<br /> $3 million of operating income since we did the rate increases. What we want to do is to be able
<br /> to generate some income to be able to do capital projects. That is exactly what you were talking
<br /> about, Councilmember Voorde. This has enabled us to do that. So, if you remember in the first
<br /> (1st) couple of years where we didn't have the rate increase,we used TIF to offset some of that and
<br /> to do some of the water projects. As we generated the cash, we are moving that into capital. So,
<br /> you can see, in 2019,there is $3.76 million of capital and in 2020 $3.1 million of capital, from the
<br /> water works revenue, that we are using. That is because we are able to get that operating income
<br /> up whereas before, if you look at 2017 and 2018, we were at right around $5,000 of capital. It's
<br /> gone up significantly and that is exactly what we are trying to do with the water rate increase is be
<br /> able to take care of some long-deferred maintenance on assets that were in really terrible shape.
<br /> He continued, We have two (2) personnel changes on the Water Works side. Our distribution
<br /> records drafter, we are asking the Council to consider changing that position to become $52,000.
<br /> Then the operations manager, changing that title and position to director of distribution, and
<br /> increasing that salary to $80,000. Both of those are open positions. In particular, the director of
<br /> distribution has been a very difficult position to try and fill. We've had that open for quite some
<br /> time and to get somebody with water certifications and that has some experience in managing
<br /> water works operations, every time we've made offers, people haven't taken it because of the
<br /> salary. We are asking to see that increased. I think I've gone over all of the budget highlights here.
<br /> Transfers out, I've listed here (referencing the presentation) what that is. Inter-fund transfers
<br /> include $800,00 for water meters, we talked about that as well. The big projects were outlined by
<br /> Kara.
<br /> He went on, I'll move on to Waste Water. The proposed budget based on what we are seeing on
<br /> the revenue side is slightly up on charges for services. That is not a result of any rate increases.
<br /> We haven't had a rate increase for a number of years there, so, that is just the matter of adding
<br /> additional customers or who are using more of the service. Interest earnings, actually, you'll see
<br /> that about all of these are down just because interest rates are so low, we can hardly get anything
<br /> and there is not much the City can invest in. Again, professional services are down $250,000
<br /> largely because we are winding down on the Long-Term Control Plan.That has been a huge effort
<br /> and I will go over that in special initiatives. I'll do that briefly because we are at a point where we
<br /> probably need to sit back down with Council in a longer session to give you an update on where
<br /> we are on the Long-Term Control Plan. We will set some time aside to do that because that will
<br /> take some time to go through where we are with that program. Overall, you will see we are going
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION j EMPOWERMENT
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