Dan Hollins, director of the Sarpy County and City Wastewater Agency, told the Sarpy County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 6 that the agency completed its annual audit on time for the first time since it was formed and received an unmodified (clean) opinion.

The audit showed the agency’s assets exceeded liabilities by about $40,000,000. Hollins said revenues excluding budgeted loan draws for the year were reported as 1.3 (units not further specified in the presentation) and that the agency finished the year roughly $676,000 under its approved budget. He said auditors identified two findings: a timing issue where a journal entry was posted after the fiscal year closed and, commonly for small organizations, incomplete segregation of duties in some accounting processes. "We really are segregated. We just don't have enough people to go around," Hollins said, and he described a corrective-action plan to tighten year‑end accounting.

Hollins outlined the agency's pending WIFIA loan-modification request and proposed drawing $33,000,000 of a $45,000,000 loan. He said that drawing the smaller amount would raise projected debt-service coverage from about 1.1 (on the full $45 million draw) to approximately 3.7 on the $33 million draw. "We project $33,000,000 of the $45,000,000 on the draw," Hollins said, adding that the agency does not yet have construction funding but that advancing design and permitting work would be valuable progress.

Commissioners pressed for more detail about how the smaller WIFIA draw affected required reserves. One commissioner asked why the required reserve dropped from about $10,700,000 to roughly $9,200,000 when the draw was reduced; Hollins said the reserve calculation combines SRF (State Revolving Fund) and WIFIA components and offered to provide a written explanation with Mark Setout, the agency treasurer. On whether reserve funds earn interest, Hollins said yes, noting the agency recently moved $2,000,000 into a higher-yield money-market account.

On revenue drivers, Hollins told the board the agency’s connection-fee revenue was higher than budgeted and that a major portion of last year’s increase came from a large private connection: "Facebook was a huge one last year. It was over $2,000,000," he said. He added that the current fiscal year (which began July 1) had collected about $1.9 million in connection fees to date and that other projects could add additional revenue soon.

Hollins closed by summarizing that staff would await WIFIA’s decision on the modification, work with county staff if the modification is approved, and return to the agency board for formal approval of any finalized modification.

The commissioners did not take formal action on the agency’s recommendation at this meeting; Hollins indicated staff will report back when WIFIA issues its decision.