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County staff seek $42.3M utilities NDA to fund microgrids, commodity cost increases
Summary
The county's utilities NDA for FY26 would rise to $42.3M to cover microgrid lease payments, higher electricity and gas costs and solid waste charge increases; DGS said microgrids and net‑zero facilities have reduced commodity exposure and the committee supported the recommendations.
Department of General Services staff told the Transportation and Environment Committee that the recommended FY26 Utilities Non‑Departmental Account (NDA) is $42.3 million, a projected 14% increase driven primarily by lease payments for resiliency hub/microgrid projects, higher commodity utility costs and rising solid waste charges.
David Dice, DGS director, said microgrid and net‑zero projects have helped stabilize the county's commodity exposure: "Although consumption has gone up because we've added new facilities... we have fixed these because of our microgrid projects. We can fix that commodity rate," he said, citing the county's solar bus maintenance depot and forthcoming net‑zero public safety facility.
DGS identified three drivers of the increase: $2.4M in lease payments for resiliency hub and microgrid facilities, $2.2M for commodity (electricity, gas, water, sewage) escalation and $540K for higher solid waste charges driven by DEP fee changes and facility square footage. Staff also presented range options that would trim 1–10% of the NDA (roughly $269K–$2.7M) and cautioned that reductions could create a deficit risk if savings did not materialize.
Council members praised the microgrid investments for long‑term resilience and asked for periodic updates; the committee indicated support for staff recommendations "without objection." DGS said OMB will continue to vet projections and provide quarterly analysis to the committee.
Next steps: OMB and DGS will finish a quarterly vetting of NDA projections and report back; the committee's support advances the NDA into the full budget deliberations.
