02/21/2023
When you get a bill from the Village, it includes 3 utility charges which include the Water, Sewer and Garbage. I wanted to highlight some water utility details that help me process the challenges and decision making in regards to the Water Utility.
I put together this diagram to visualize the stand-alone utility and how it is operates with funding and expenses.
1) K***s visualize what is controlled and main body/bodies in control of that k**b.
2) Utility funding is almost entirely fee-based plus any bonus/additional funding that can be obtained at the state or federal level (grants, low-interest loans, loan principal forgiveness).
3) Utility expenses include day to day operating, capital, project costs, maintenance costs and debt payments.
So what makes items challenging for the Fall Creek water utility.
1) A small community that is largely residential users and few large water volume industrial users, places a larger burden on all the low water volume residential homes.
2) The small community water utility has smaller projects or less projects per year. This generally results in higher project bids from the bidding parties.
3) The Village wants to make sure we are looking into state/federal funding for our projects, but the challenge is that they are competitive and there are weighting factors that the Village may not score great against when the grantors are deciding what municipalities are awarded that funding (mean household income, current water utility debt, types of users, etc).
So what are possible solutions or thoughts that come to my mind. Please NOTE, this is not an inclusive list but some examples.
1) Be aware, prepared and research state/federal funding. This funding is generally ONLY part of a new water utility project to offset new costs, not to offset existing expenses. Also, hedging for state/federal funding is largely speculative. POSITIVE: Our last water project with the new water wells #2/ #3, Mckinley Road and the water tower had funding assistance, great job!!
2) Ensure your state and federal representatives (largely State Assembly and State Senate representatives) are advocating for funding weighting factors that are favorable to the Village. For example, our State Representatives could advocate that municipalities that are largely residential low-volume water user are in more need of state/federal funding. A focused/dedicated state representation is very valuable to the Village.
3) Manage existing debt. POSITIVE: The water utility has all loans with
