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Council forms ad hoc committee to study utility finances, charter amendment constraints
Summary
The council authorized formation of an ad hoc committee to examine financial challenges facing the city's electric, water and wastewater utilities, instructing the city manager to recruit council and community members and study options including potential restoration of rate-setting authority limited by a 1995 charter amendment.
Staff asked the council to authorize an ad hoc committee to examine persistent financial shortfalls affecting the city's electric, water and wastewater utilities, which staff attributed in part to a 1995 charter amendment that removed council rate-setting authority and requires voter approval for rate increases.
"The city's electric, water and wastewater utilities are facing financial issues stemming from a 1995 charter amendment that removed the council's rate setting authority," the city manager said, explaining current user fees are insufficient to cover operating and capital needs and that the general fund subsidizes utilities.
The proposed ad hoc committee would include two council members, city executive staff and three community members. Councilors discussed whether the committee's principal goal should explicitly be to pursue restoration of rate-setting authority; staff said the committee should assess impacts and explore multiple options, including methodologies the public might accept and the possibility of seeking voter approval in the future.
The council moved to establish the committee, suggested two prospective community members (Matt Winkle and Bruce Spencer) and directed staff to advertise for the remaining position. The motion carried unanimously.
