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• Due to the retirement this year of significant utilities-related debt, we have been able to
<br />include a significant amount of new and replacement equipment in the budgets for both the
<br />water plant ($160,000), and the sewer plant ($123,500), at Lake Pat Mayse ($55,000), and
<br />also at various sewer lift stations ($66,000).
<br />• I have added $80,000 for street repairs and $40,000 for drainage work.
<br />• I have added $1.2 million for replacement of some of our worst water and wastewater lines
<br />in hopes of reducing outages, breaks, impacts on sewer plant volumes, street damage, and
<br />repair costs, and placed $55,800 in the budget to purchase equipinent to help us do some of
<br />this work in-house. We actually began planning these projects on July 24 so we can move
<br />quickly once the appropriation is approved; for the most part we will use in-house
<br />engineering. We may not be able to fund a line replacement program at this level in future
<br />years, but we absolutely need to make a commitment to some sort of long-term
<br />replacement program. An additional $3.405 million was approved in May to replace 15 old
<br />water lines as part of a Texas Water Development Board loan, though as part of a state
<br />prograln, actual construction is not expected to begin for mare than a year and will not be
<br />complete until 2014.
<br />• We have budgeted $400,000 for a new SCADA system. This vital communication system
<br />cost might be able to be deferred, but the need will not go away, so the sooner we can
<br />address it the better.
<br />• I have included $13,165 for merit raises far certain exceptional employees.
<br />• Not in this budget year, but relatively soon, we will need to begin tangible plans for design
<br />and ultimate construction of a large new wastewater plant. This work too can be deferred,
<br />but operating and maintenance costs in the meantime are considerably higher, while
<br />dependability is lower.
<br />UTILITIES FUND
<br />2010-11
<br />2011-12
<br />2012-13
<br />Increase
<br />Percent
<br />Warehouse
<br />116,472
<br />109,280
<br />114,596
<br />5,316
<br />4.86
<br />Billing & Collecting
<br />453,661
<br />579,906
<br />591,092
<br />11,186
<br />1.93
<br />Inter-fund Transfers
<br />1,140,000
<br />1,140,000
<br />1,567,000
<br />427,000
<br />37.46
<br />Water Production
<br />2,489,475
<br />2,865,221
<br />3,030,817
<br />165,596
<br />5.78
<br />Water Distribution
<br />1,331,258
<br />1,496,673
<br />1,573,167
<br />76,494
<br />5.11
<br />Sewer Maintenance
<br />589,927
<br />866,436
<br />989,652
<br />123,216
<br />14.22
<br />Sewer Treatment
<br />2,032,410
<br />2,097,928
<br />2,195,229
<br />97,301
<br />4.64
<br />Lift Stations
<br />307,905
<br />407,250
<br />442,067
<br />34,817
<br />8.55
<br />Line Replacements
<br />-
<br />-
<br />1,200,000
<br />1,200,000
<br />100.00
<br />Contingency
<br />-
<br />-
<br />13,165
<br />13,165
<br />100.00
<br />Utilities Debt
<br />-
<br />3,823,250
<br />1,694,895
<br />(2,128,355)
<br />(55.67)
<br />TOTAL
<br />8,461,108
<br />13,385,944
<br />13,411,680
<br />25,736
<br />0.19
<br />
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