Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

UTILITIES FUND
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES/DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

PROGRAM MISSION:  The agencies which comprise the Utilities Fund are charged with the responsibility of providing and maintaining water delivery, sanitary sewer removal, and wastewater treatment systems that provide high quality water and sewer services and products.

FY 2004 PRIORITIES:  The FY 2004 priorities of the Utilities Fund are:

• To work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington Aqueduct Wholesale Customer Board   to ensure the provision of high quality water that meets or exceeds all environmental and health regulations.

• To evaluate our ability to provide full services to all current and future Arlington customers over many years and provide capital, operational, and financial plans to ensure the infrastructure is in place.

• To manage operating and capital activities in a manner that minimizes rate increases.

• To provide high quality design and construction management services for all utility capital projects.

• To continue the ongoing maintenance of the County's utility infrastructure and to ensure that high-quality products and services are delivered to the County's residents.

• To mitigate natural and non-natural emergency events that impact water or sewer services.

• To implement the 2001 update to the Water Pollution Control Division Master Plan to address environmental issues, create a model wastewater treatment facility, meet new legislative mandates, and be a good neighbor.

PRINCIPAL PROGRAMS:  The principal programs of the Utilities Fund are in the Departmental Summaries in this Section.  In addition to the Departmental Programs, the Fund has one joint, inter-departmental agency:

• Department of Environmental Services Programs – Utilities Services, Water Pollution Control

• Department of Public Works Programs – Water, Sewer and Streets, Utility Engineering

• Debt Service and Other (shared between DES and DPW)

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET CHANGES: The FY 2004 proposed budget for the Utilities Fund (as a whole) is $38,690,062, a three percent increase from the FY 2003 adopted budget.  This increase is described in the Utilities Fund sections.

The total water/sewer rate is projected to increase no more than $0.60 to a maximum of $5.30 per thousand gallons (Tgal), a 12.8 percent increase, producing additional revenue of $4.5M.  The water rate will increase by $0.26/Tgal to $2.36/Tgal.  The sewer rate will increase by $0.34/Tgal to $2.94/Tgal. This cumulative $0.60 increase will be used to fund ongoing operations and maintenance, to fund new and continuing debt service, and to continue to maintain the fund balance to mitigate natural and non-natural emergency events that impact water or sewer services.

Even with the rate increase, Arlington will continue to have one of the lowest water/sewer rates in the region.

The following fees and other revenue are proposed to fund operating and capital costs for the Utilities Fund.  The capital fees are reflected in the capital portion of the budget.

• Fund Balances From Prior Years:  Estimates of fund balances are projected during each budget cycle.  Projected surplus is carried over and budgeted to assist in reducing the need to increase the water/sewer charge in the next fiscal year.

• Interest Earnings:  Funds are invested until such time as they are needed to cover expenses, with interest income accruing to the Fund.

• Water/Sewer Billings:  These charges generate 85-90 percent of the income for the Utilities Fund.

• Water Service Connection Fees:  These fees are paid by new water users for the physical connection to the water system.  This fee recovers 100 percent of personnel, materials, and rental of equipment costs.

• Sewage Treatment Charges:  These charges are paid by neighboring jurisdictions (Fairfax County and the Cities of Falls Church and Alexandria), federal government facilities and authorities (such as the Pentagon, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) that use the County sewage system but supply their own water and by facilities such as Fort Myer, that use the County sewage and also pay a fee for use of the water system.

• Water/Sewer (W/S) Late Charges:  These fees are charged to residents who return their utilities payment past the 30-day payment deadline.  After 30 days, a six-percent late charge is imposed on outstanding utility bills.

• New Account Fee:  This fee is charged to any commercial entity or resident requesting the set-up of a new utilities account.  The cost for establishing a new account is $25.

• Turn-On Fee:  This fee is charged to homeowners when they request the County to turn on water connections to their home, which were previously shut off.  The charge for this service is $25.

• Flow Meter Testing Fees:  These fees are assessed on individuals or entities requiring the flushing of fire hydrants for flow testing purposes or requesting field inspections to count drainage fixture units.  These services are performed upon request from developers and building owners.

• Pretreatment Fee:  This fee is assessed on Permitted Industrial Users to recover all of the costs of the industrial pretreatment program, which ensures compliance with state and federal standards.

• Water/Sewer Hook-up Fee:  This fee, which is charged to developers to enable them to buy into the system's limited capacity by the amount of fixtures they add to the system, is paid into the capital portion of the budget.  It is used to expand the capacity of the system through capital construction.  Capital improvements that are not expansion projects are generally funded either by PAYGO capital or bonds.  Computer models that evaluate the fair share of capacity costs for current development determine the fee.

• Utility Marking Fees:  Fees paid to have utility lines marked before construction begins.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES: