Englewood officials outline $100M in water and sewer projects, cite billing and staffing challenges

Englewood City officials told the Budget Advisory Committee on a regularly scheduled meeting that utilities and South Platte Renew (the regional sewer authority) are executing a multi-year capital and modernization program financed largely with recent federal loans and grants.

“We’ve got $100,000,000 in the last two and a half years of long‑term loans and grants,” said Sean Lewis, Englewood City Manager, summarizing the package that includes WIFIA loans, bipartisan infrastructure law funding and drinking water revolving fund loans. Lewis said that mix “helps” bridge a formerly large funding gap and that the city’s long‑term plan assumes roughly 4.5% annual rate increases to sustain debt service through the 2030s.

The nut graf: the presentation framed the work as a mix of urgent repairs and multi‑decade planning. Staff said an accelerated lead service‑line replacement program, modernization of the Allen water treatment plant, upgrades at South Platte Renew and system resiliency projects are the main near‑term priorities. David and operational details include a planned centrifuge replacement for a salt settling pond, replacement of electrical and motor control systems, and expanded valve exercise and new valve‑insertion capabilities to reduce long outage responses.

City Finance Director Kevin Ingalls and Sarah Stone, Deputy Director for Business Solutions and Engineering for Utilities, provided financial detail. The water fund shows about $33 million in projected revenues in the budget for next year, with capital outlays partly funded by approximately $18 million in borrowing proceeds. Capital timing remains a constraint: staff reported a $31.8 million capital budget with execution lagging, which they said explains lower year‑to‑date spending rates.

Staff described progress on the lead program: “We’ve replaced thus far 450 lines,” Lewis said, and he described $10 million in principal forgiveness in the bipartisan infrastructure law proceeds earmarked for that work. Additional financing includes a $22.4 million drinking water revolving fund loan and WIFIA financing. Staff said those resources allow the city to execute a program that in 2020 was considered unfunded.

On operations and reliability, officials described investments to reduce long repair times. Lewis said crews adopted new valve insertion and valve‑stop equipment so the city can isolate breaks faster than in prior years, when crews sometimes could not isolate a main and leaks persisted for weeks. He said the utility recently reached about 97% budget execution for South Platte Renew after several years of improved forecasting and monthly cash‑flow coordination with partner jurisdictions.

The committee and staff also discussed the city’s billing system. City staff acknowledged multiple customer complaints after a large annual connector‑district billing cycle and said the billing system’s template and customization have complicated communications. “The billing system itself in the background is working. . . . It’s how it’s representing on the bill template that is what has been killing us for five months,” Lewis said. Staff said they will delay a $5 monthly drinking‑water revolving‑fund loan fee until later in 2025 to give customers and the billing vendor time to stabilize statements.

Committee members pressed on rate structure and conservation. Staff confirmed Englewood currently uses a declining‑block water rate structure so larger users pay a lower incremental price at higher consumption tiers; Lewis said the city is among the few utilities that still use that structure and plans to transition to an inclining‑block structure within a multi‑year water‑efficiency strategy approved by the state.

South Platte Renew staff outlined a multi‑decade capital need driven by regulatory trends (temperature, nutrients, PFAS and future nutrient rules). They described a $260 million 10‑year capital estimate for the SBR site and noted ongoing efforts to test innovative treatment pilots, partnerships with universities and external research funds to identify lower‑cost compliance options.

Staff closed by asking for committee support on timing and communication; several committee members thanked utilities staff for the funding work and urged clearer customer messaging on billing cycles and fee timing. The committee did not take formal action on any utility financing items during the meeting.