Utilities director outlines $40 million budget, wastewater consent decree and infrastructure stats

Mike Caprillo, director of utilities, presented the department’s 2024 annual report and highlighted workforce size, budget and operational statistics for city water, wastewater and related divisions.

Caprillo said the utilities department employs more than 90 people and manages roughly a $40,000,000 annual budget across six divisions: water plant, wastewater plant, customer service, field services, data systems and administration. He reported the water plant averaged about 13.7 million gallons per day of treated drinking water and the wastewater plant averaged about 14.7 million gallons per day, noting the wastewater total includes stormwater and other inflows.

Caprillo said field services handled 129 water main breaks in the previous reporting period, installed 98 new water services, cleaned 18.5 miles of sewer line and that customer service collected $23,587,000 on the water side and $18,360,000 for sewer. He also said refuse collections generated $3,449,000 in revenue that the utilities department administers under contract.

Caprillo told the council the wastewater system is subject to a consent decree with multiple compliance items; he said he will present more detail at a later meeting to explain remaining obligations and planned improvements. Councilors thanked Caprillo and his staff for the department’s work.

Ending: Caprillo distributed the printed 2024 annual report and offered to answer questions by phone; he said a future meeting will go into detail on the consent decree and required wastewater investments.