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Utilities budget: new water treatment plant online, meter counts and rate/volume drivers shape 2026 outlook
Summary
Utilities staff reported the new water treatment plant is pumping water, cited 288 new water meters and more than 2,600 locate tickets this year, and explained a water‑purchased increase is driven by both a small per‑gallon rate increase and larger volume increases tied to new development and irrigation demand.
Utilities staff presented the water and sewer enterprise budgets and answered council questions about rates, staffing and transfers.
The utilities presenter reported more than 2,600 locate tickets issued this year and said staff installed about 288 water meters during an October reporting period. The presenter also noted the newly opened water treatment plant in Tower and said the plant has pumped “almost, up to 17,000,000” (as described in the presentation).
On costs, the presenter said operating supplies, motor fuels and electric costs increased due to new facilities and full‑year staffing; postage was lowered because customers increasingly use online billing. The city flagged higher water‑purchased costs that staff attributed to both a ~5% per‑gallon rate increase and an approximately 32% volume increase driven in part by irrigation needs for newly established landscaping on new homes.
Council raised questions about the decline in anticipated connection and trunk charges (a 30–40% reduction in projections). Staff explained that projection changes reflect a conservative approach tied to entitled land and a 10‑year average of permits, landing on an assumption of about 225 building permits for planning alignment.
Staff also described an internal analysis of historic interfund transfers from water and sewer funds and presented a new rubric to allocate transfers more defensibly to administration and other areas; the revised approach reduced unexplained transfers compared with historical practice.
On capital and reserves, staff said roughly $8 million in Water Fund projects are anticipated in the next 48 months (subject to adjustments and transfers) and that staff is balancing liquidity with opportunities to modestly increase earnings while preserving funds for near‑term demands.
Council members praised recent utility hires and the facility opening and emphasized retention of newly hired staff to sustain operations.
