Lodi city council hears update on finances for public utilities

The Lodi City Council received the 2016-17 fourth-quarter financial report for the city’s utilities during Tuesday’s shirtsleeve session.

According to Melissa Price, Lodi’s rates and resources manager, at the end of the last fiscal year Lodi Electric Utility revenues of $71,533,852 were at 99 percent of what was projected in the budget while expenses of $68,064,393 were at 90 percent.

Total operating expenses on the business side of the utility were at 84 percent of what was projected. The utility had cash balances of $22,848,705 when the 2016-17 fiscal year ended on June 30.

Lodi Public Works Utilities Manager Lance Roberts reported that wastewater revenues of $16,968,746 were at 89 percent of what was projected in the budget while total expenses of $16,379,938 were at 74 percent, with total operating expenses at 93 percent of projections.

Water revenues of $13,819,703 were at 95 percent at the end of the fourth quarter while expenses of $15,194,121 were 68 percent of budget projections and total operating expenses on the business side were at 90 percent.

The water and wastewater funds had cash balances of $16,246,306 and $16,285,031, respectively, when at the end of the fiscal year.

LEU Director Liz Kirkley updated the council on the electric utility’s recent activity and progress. In terms of improving customer service, Kirkley informed the council that Deputy City Manager Andrew Keys has been working on improving the finance department’s customer service.

Kirkley also reported that the utility paid $294,000 in energy efficiency and solar rebates for the current quarter and a little more than $840,000 total for the fiscal year. She said the utility has been working with the deputy city manager’s IT staff on selecting a vender for the citywide website redesign as well as cyber security training and enhancing data availability for customers and staff.

The operations division of the utility is in the process of getting one of the utility’s software modules updated so it can have a management system to provide customers with information during outages. According to Kirkley, the utility is also in the process of preparing to move its operations center to its emergency operations center.

Roberts said the wastewater and water utility has installed safety training tracking software to make sure people are getting the training they need. The utility received 25 taste and order calls and treated 1.2 billion gallons of water for the fiscal year. This past year there were 34 sewer blockages with 16 being public and 15 being private along with one sanitary sewer overflow.

With recent promotions and retirements Roberts said the water and wastewater utility is looking to fill six positions.