MONROE - By postponing action Feb. 17 for a proposed water rate increase the Common Council missed Monday's deadline for imposing a new rate and pushed the city's water utility budget into losing as much as $96,000 in revenue for the second quarter.
The $96,000 in revenue was based on a proposed 29 percent rate increase, poised to appear on water customers' quarterly bills in June.
The city has until June 1 to set a new rate and make the third quarter adjustment. The utility will not see any extra revenue until September.
Council voted to postpone its vote until today, to give committees time to re-consider a 29 percent rate increase recommended by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, but that item was stricken from tonight's Common Council agenda.
On Monday, the Finance and Taxation Committee postponed taking any action until April on a water rate adjustment and deferring about $200,000 in property taxes the Water Utility pays to the city.
Relieving $200,000 of its property taxes would mean the utility only needs a 14 percent rate increase, said Water Utility Supervisor Mike Kennison.
In a report to the city on its cash position and undesignated general fund balance, financial advisor Ehlers and Associates recommended the city not use $200,000 in cash or from reserves to cover the utility's property taxes.
The city has about $5.1 million in undesignated funds, and should keep at least $2.5 in cash on hand, said Greg Johnson of Ehlers and Associates.
But the $200,000 is part of the utility's property tax paid to the city as a budget revenue and a payment to the Water Utility would need to be subsidized with general fund dollars.
If the payment was only a one-time event, the committee could consider it, but some members were hoping to also dip into the reserves to help the utility fund an additional $350,000-400,000 in extra costs to replace all the water lines in the 8th and 9th streets reconstruction project next year.
The Water Utility rate increase request to the PSC, submitted when it had planned to replace only small sections along the route between 7th and 20th Avenue, includes only about $181,000 for the project.
"In the (2008) audit, I found we had this unreserved fund, which was not brought up until tonight. Now things have changed - nobody wanted to spend any of it until tonight," said Dan Henke, President of the Common Council.
Earlier in the meeting, the Finance and Taxation Committee had approved spending $950,000 of the unreserved funds for construction of a second fire station on the city's west side.
Monroe's water rate ranks 13th out of 92 class AB utilities, according to a PSC comparison chart of Wisconsin Water Utility rates dated Feb. 24. The ranking makes the city's rate one of the least expensive for municipalities its size in the state.
Monroe's water rate for the same usage is about 50-66 percent less than rates found in Albany, Browntown, Monticello and New Glarus, and 15 percent of the rate for Brooklyn, all of which have lower utility classifications, Kennison said.
The 29 percent increase places the utility at its PSC-authorized 6.5 percent rate of return. If passed by council, the rate increase would give the water utility about $382,246 more in annual revenues.
The $96,000 in revenue was based on a proposed 29 percent rate increase, poised to appear on water customers' quarterly bills in June.
The city has until June 1 to set a new rate and make the third quarter adjustment. The utility will not see any extra revenue until September.
Council voted to postpone its vote until today, to give committees time to re-consider a 29 percent rate increase recommended by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, but that item was stricken from tonight's Common Council agenda.
On Monday, the Finance and Taxation Committee postponed taking any action until April on a water rate adjustment and deferring about $200,000 in property taxes the Water Utility pays to the city.
Relieving $200,000 of its property taxes would mean the utility only needs a 14 percent rate increase, said Water Utility Supervisor Mike Kennison.
In a report to the city on its cash position and undesignated general fund balance, financial advisor Ehlers and Associates recommended the city not use $200,000 in cash or from reserves to cover the utility's property taxes.
The city has about $5.1 million in undesignated funds, and should keep at least $2.5 in cash on hand, said Greg Johnson of Ehlers and Associates.
But the $200,000 is part of the utility's property tax paid to the city as a budget revenue and a payment to the Water Utility would need to be subsidized with general fund dollars.
If the payment was only a one-time event, the committee could consider it, but some members were hoping to also dip into the reserves to help the utility fund an additional $350,000-400,000 in extra costs to replace all the water lines in the 8th and 9th streets reconstruction project next year.
The Water Utility rate increase request to the PSC, submitted when it had planned to replace only small sections along the route between 7th and 20th Avenue, includes only about $181,000 for the project.
"In the (2008) audit, I found we had this unreserved fund, which was not brought up until tonight. Now things have changed - nobody wanted to spend any of it until tonight," said Dan Henke, President of the Common Council.
Earlier in the meeting, the Finance and Taxation Committee had approved spending $950,000 of the unreserved funds for construction of a second fire station on the city's west side.
Monroe's water rate ranks 13th out of 92 class AB utilities, according to a PSC comparison chart of Wisconsin Water Utility rates dated Feb. 24. The ranking makes the city's rate one of the least expensive for municipalities its size in the state.
Monroe's water rate for the same usage is about 50-66 percent less than rates found in Albany, Browntown, Monticello and New Glarus, and 15 percent of the rate for Brooklyn, all of which have lower utility classifications, Kennison said.
The 29 percent increase places the utility at its PSC-authorized 6.5 percent rate of return. If passed by council, the rate increase would give the water utility about $382,246 more in annual revenues.