Tulare Board of Public Utilities adopts fiscal year 2027 municipal enterprise budget

The Tulare Board of Public Utilities adopted the fiscal year 2027 municipal enterprise utility fund budgets and approved an amendment to carry forward prior‑year unspent capital improvement project appropriations until projects are completed.

Budget manager Jacob Delcid presented the proposal and the board approved Resolution 6.1 as amended. Delcid told the board the solid‑waste and street‑sweeping fund would total roughly $14.6 million, with commercial operations at about $3.6 million, residential at $8.7 million, roll‑off $1.5 million and street sweeping $768,000. “The total for the solid waste and the street sweeping fund is roughly $14,600,000,” Delcid said.

Delcid said salaries accounted for a large share of costs; about 70 percent of the salaries-and-benefits line is salary, with the remainder covering benefits such as health insurance and pension obligations. He outlined other enterprise fund totals: wastewater expenditures of about $29.6 million (several divisions including domestic services and industrial pretreatment) and the water fund at roughly $13.8 million. Taken together, Delcid said the city’s municipal enterprise funds total about $58 million for FY27.

On revenues and surpluses, Delcid attributed much of the year‑over‑year revenue growth to stronger investment income. He estimated a FY27 solid‑waste revenue figure of $15.7 million, producing a projected surplus of about $709,000; wastewater revenues were estimated at $32.5 million with a projected surplus near $2.4 million.

Delcid also reviewed capital improvement program (CIP) projections: solid‑waste FY27 CIP about $520,000 and a five‑year total of roughly $2.2 million; wastewater FY27 CIP about $16.7 million and a five‑year wastewater CIP estimate near $118 million; water CIP five‑year costs approaching $41 million. He proposed personnel changes including a senior solid‑waste operator and two water positions, and modest fleet replacements (electric forklift and two small trucks).

A board member moved to adopt the resolution; a staff member seconded. The board approved the resolution by voice vote; the transcript records aye responses and no opposition. The approved resolution was amended to explicitly allow unspent prior‑year CIP appropriations to be carried forward into subsequent fiscal years until the projects are complete, a practice the auditors prefer be memorialized in writing, Delcid said.

The presentation concluded and the board moved to other business.