Explanation
BACKGROUND:
This legislation authorizes the City Auditor to transfer funds within the Water Operating Fund and within the Sanitary Sewer Operating Fund.
Divisional financial reviews show expected deficits in electricity costs. There are multiple reasons for the deficit, including accounts that were not billed via the internal billing system in 2025. These missed payments have been paid in 2026. Following from that, 2025 year-to-date expenditures were utilized to project 2026 electricity cost estimates. As a result, the 2026 number is too low compared to year-to-date actuals. We have also seen elevated purchase power costs compared to budget for the Division of Power, and these costs flow through to our customers, including the Water and Water Reclamation Plants. Additionally, a missed payment to Shell/AEP from 2023-2024 was also applied this year (see BRDI006736).
FISCAL IMPACT:
We estimate approximately $6,000,000.00 in additional electricity expenditures for the Division of Water and approximately $7,400,000.00 for the Division of Water Reclamation through February of 2027 ($3.5M and $4.7M for the remainder of the calendar year for DOW and DOWR respectively). These transfers will support the current budget appropriation and allow for continued operations for other professional services main accounts.
$5,450,000 in additional encumbrance is needed for the Division of Water. This will be supported with a combination of existing budget appropriation transferred from object class 04 ($1,727,049.00) and object class 07 ($345,661.64), and supplemental appropriation ($3,377,289.36).
$6,100,000.00 in additional encumbrance is needed for the Division of Water Reclamation. There is sufficient budget authority available in the 2026 Sanitary Sewer Operating Fund's Budget to fund additional electricity cost needs. A transfer of the remainder of the object class 04 appropriation ($2,974,342.91) and object class 07 appropriation ($2,537,926.89), as well as some...
Click here for full text