Water/Sewer Fund FY 2023 Budget
The Water/Sewer Fund has a Fiscal Year 2023 Budget of $82,144,457 in expenditures and $86,367,186 in revenues.
FY 2023 Budget Highlights
- The FY 2023 Water/Sewer Fund operating budget expenditures total $82,144,457 – up $2,576,882 or 3.2% from FY 2022. The FY 2023 Budget continues to support the high-priority initiatives essential to achieving financially self-sustaining and environmentally-sound water, sewer, and stormwater utilities. These include an accelerated Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) mitigation effort and finished water filtration and supply improvements that exceed EPA standards, contributing to the stability of northern Delaware’s water supply, especially in times of drought.
- There was a 5.0% increase to water and sewer rates. The projected fiscal impact of the rate changes is an increase of $2.49 million in revenue to the Water/Sewer Fund in FY 2023. The typical residential customer in the City using 4,000 gallons of water per month will see an increase of $2.82 to their monthly bill. There was no increase to stormwater rates.
- The budget contains a $146,100 allowance to cover salary increases as dictated by union labor contracts and for a 2.0% cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) salary increase for non-union employees. In addition, mandatory anniversary salary step increases for certain employees added about $86,500 to the budget.
- Staffing decreased by a net total of 1.35 FTE. Personnel actions, including changes in grades and shifts to split-funded positions, resulted in a total net decrease of $94,909.
- The Contracted Maintenance Services account increased $960,400. Almost the entire increase is in the contract fee to Jacobs to operate and maintain the City's sewage treatment plant and help manage the City’s renewable energy bio-solids facility.
Click here for more FY 2023 Budget Highlights.
Breakdown of FY 2023 Budgeted Expenditures by Type
Breakdown of FY 2023 Budgeted Expenditures by Department
Water/Sewer Fund Staffing Levels Over Past 5 Years*
*Note: City staffing levels are measured in units of full-time equivalents (FTE). Many positions in the City are split-funded, which may result in a fractional FTE. For example, a position could be funded 60% from the General Fund and 40% from the Water/Sewer Fund, resulting in a 0.40 FTE in the Water/Sewer Fund.
Breakdown of FY 2023 Budgeted Revenues by Type
Overview of Budgeted Revenues
- Total Water / Sewer Fund revenue is budgeted to be $86,367,186, a net increase of $3.2 million, or 3.9%.
- There was a 5.0% increase to water and sewer rates. The projected fiscal impact of the rate changes is an increase of $2.49 million in revenue to the Water/Sewer Fund in FY 2023. The typical residential customer in the City using 4,000 gallons of water per month will see an increase of $2.82 to their monthly bill. There was no increase to stormwater rates.
- Water/Sewer User Fees, the Water/Sewer Fund's largest source of revenue, are projected to total $56.5 million, an increase of $4.3 million from the FY 2022 budget.
- Stormwater Billings are the revenues derived from the Stormwater Property Fee, which is charged to all property owners in the City. The fee is not based on a consumption factor, but rather on the size of property and the characteristics of associated land and buildings as they relate to the generation of stormwater runoff. Stormwater billings are expected to decrease by $465,000 or 5.3%.
- New Castle County Sewer is the revenue associated with the City’s treatment of sewage from New Castle County. After several years of negotiations, a new contract between the City and County has been finalized. Based on a review of this contract by the City’s outside engineers and legal counsel, total revenues are expected to decrease by $117,000 in FY 2023, for a new total of $21.1 million
Click here to learn more about the Water/Sewer Fund revenue projections for FY 2023.
Prior-Year Budget Books
Our most recent budget books are linked below. For access to all available budget books, click here.
