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Frequent readers of our blog will know that we often discuss the gap that exists between the need for capital investment in the water/wastewater sector, and the availability of both the necessary capital as well as the ability to repay debt. Indeed, our most recent blog post, Water Rate Affordability (Dec. 26, 2011), presents a [...]
We’ve said before that affordability is going to be one of the primary challenges faced by water and sewer utility managers in the coming years (Why Affordability is the New Challenge for Water and Sewer Utility Owners, July 2010). The story that is unfolding in Jefferson County, Alabama (home to Birmingham) sheds some light on [...]
StepWise Utility Advisors is proud to be a Gold Sponsor for the upcoming Wyoming Association of Municipalities conference in Sheridan, Wyoming. The conference will run from June 8 through June 10th. We will be participating in all of the conference activities and presenting a 90-minute presentation during the technical session. Jason Mumm, president of StepWise [...]
President Obama’s 2012 budget will include provisions for a national Infrastructure Bank. In comments provided at the US Treasury blog, Treasury Secretary Geithner said that the bank would leverage private money to “…support projects that produce significant returns on our investment.” The structure of the infrastructure bank, based on the blog post, appears to include [...]
One of the interesting debates in the water industry these days is how, when, why, and how much private equity can be brought to bear to address our growing water investment needs. As readers of our blog would note, US water systems are faced with daunting shortfalls in financing for developing new water supplies, and [...]
At last count (and still counting), the US Federal Budget deficit stands at $1.43 trillion, and the national debt is now $13.2 trillion. Those are big dollars, but the US is a mighty economic engine even in these recessionary times. Still, the national debt is now over 90% of the nation’s entire economic output for [...]
Eventually the piper must be paid. For municipal governments, balancing the budget is these days a constant concern and budget cuts are starting to hit core services as the recession plods along. In Washington, however, balanced budgets are not a concern, nor it seems is the staggering deficit that comes with massive spending programs that [...]
As water and sewer infrastructure across the country ages, deteriorates, and eventually fails the cost of replacing it all becomes a growing concern. The cost of replacements is fantastically large, and it doesn’t help that these needs have been largely unplanned, meaning that these large costs tend to come as a shock to oblivious rate-paying [...]
An important part of our financial planning toolbox is the Credit Scorecard. Embedded in our financial plan models prepared for clients, we compare your own metrics against the published median benchmarks for Fitch Ratings’ AAA, AA, and A rated credits, and to S&P’s Strong, Avg., and Low indicators. While not an official credit rating by [...]
As the Global Water rate case in Arizona unfolds, we are starting to see “under the skirt” of the water utility that is seeking a 34% increase to its approved water rate and 130% for its sewer rate. We were pretty sure that we would see some fireworks in this case given the size of [...]
We’ve been following the story in Oceanside, CA for several weeks now and were not surprised to awake to today’s headline that the city council rejected the water rate increases that had been proposed by the utility managers (Council Rejects Water, Sewer Rate Increases). As this story has unfolded, we’ve learned a few things: a) [...]