Melissa Cabrera, director of finance for Independence, told the Public Utilities Advisory Board on June 12 that utility funds were “either right at what was budgeted or exceeding budget” through April, and that expenses across the three utility funds were trending below budget.

Cabrera said the board will see two insurance items at the upcoming Monday city council meeting: the annual property-insurance renewal for utilities and the citywide workers’-compensation renewal. “For utilities, the premium increase was 4% this year, 6% when you take into account that there is an additional $18,800 engineering fee in the premium,” Cabrera said, adding the fee covers a carrier-conducted site visit and risk assessment.

The insurance increase and engineering fee, Cabrera said, are consistent with broader market moves. She told the board she had attended a Missouri Municipal League briefing in which brokers described rising property-insurance premiums after significant industry losses in 2022–23. “Overall, not bad news on that front, and we will be, continue on with the same carrier,” she said.

Cabrera introduced Jacob Arnold, the new accounting manager who started the previous Monday and will increasingly handle utility accounting and monthly financial updates for the board.

Board members asked no substantive follow-up questions about the financial statements during the meeting; Cabrera offered to answer specifics as requested and said she had added explanatory footnotes to the monthly charts to clarify offsets from fiscal 2024.