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Council approves enterprise fund budgets; water revenue uncertainty and refuse deficit flagged
Summary
Council approved stormwater, water, sewer, refuse, parks and parking authority enterprise budgets but staff warned the water fund could face shortfalls if intermunicipal revenue does not materialize and said a refuse deficit tied to the Republic contract might reach $1–1.5 million.
The City Council approved six enterprise fund appropriations for FY2027 — stormwater, water, sewer, refuse, parks and recreation, and the parking authority — while staff cautioned about specific revenue and contract risks for the water and refuse funds.
The clerk reported Order Two to appropriate $770,056 for the stormwater enterprise fund and related allocations; the order passed on roll call.
On the water enterprise (Order Three), the clerk read a $22,573,876 appropriation (user charges $21.2 million; retained earnings $1,373,876). Councilor Farwell asked whether the action would appropriate sufficient funds for the water enterprise. The official identified in the transcript as Dr. Clarkson said the budget was set to the revenues the city could support and that, while intermunicipal agreements could add significant revenue, the city could not count on them when setting the budget. He added that "the choice we have ... is to increase the water rates" if additional revenue does not materialize, indicating a possible policy path if anticipated agreements do not produce timely revenue.
Councilors approved the sewer enterprise fund (Order Four) at $23,086,158; staff said sewer user charges and the rate structure balanced the budget.
On refuse (Order Five), council approved the proposed appropriations (expenses reported at $12,052,327 and user charges $13,324,100) but pressed staff about the current fiscal-year deficit. The administration said they were still determining the exact deficit and estimated it could be "anywhere from a million to a million and a half," attributing much of the pressure to the contract with Republic and noting that final figures depend on June 30 close-out accounting.
Council also approved the Parks & Recreation enterprise fund (Order Six) at $2,691,492 and the parking authority enterprise fund (Order Seven) at $2,349,129. Staff said the parking authority had developed significant retained earnings and planned to expand enforcement to generate additional revenue; a separate legal question about whether the mayor can transfer parking authority retained earnings to other uses was referred to legal counsel because it depends on the enterprise's authorizing language.
Councilors and staff agreed that several enterprise-fund outcomes hinge on pending agreements, year-end accounting, and possible future rate actions. Each order was approved by roll call during the meeting; the council completed the enterprise-fund approvals before returning to additional amendments on the general fund.
