Archives › 2010 › January
Water and sewer utilities are normally operated as an enterprise fund within a municipal organization. All that means is that the utilities operate like an enterprise (i.e. a business) where the the revenues earned are supposed to be used to support the business without subsidization from a city’s general (i.e. taxes) fund. Since utilities are [...]
We came across this news article last night and thought it was a good example of strong financial planning by the community of Laurel, Mississippi. In this community, despite an identified need of over $11 million in line replacement costs, the city leaders used a five and ten-year financial plan to determine that they could [...]
Sewer utilities and their operations, including their rates, tend to get less press than their more glamorous water utility cousins. Perhaps this is because there are just 16,000 sewer utilities in the US as compared to some 52,000 drinking water systems, or perhaps it is because the topic of sewer treatment and collection is, well, [...]
A VP for United Water New Rochelle recently published a letter explaining the reasoning behind the company’s requested rate increase that is now being considered by the NY commission (click here to read the full letter). He brings out a couple of points in the letter that bear additional commentary. “Capital improvements are not a [...]