At Monday's council Meeting, an electric "rate study" was authorized by the Mayor/City Council, to be funded by the city's electricity supplier, AMEA. The study is expected to recommend a (considerable) electric rate "adjustment" (increase) for city residents (beginning Jan. 1st)-- turning a net loss (after transfers to the General Fund for city expenses) of $121,187 in 2009 into a profit of over a million dollars in 2010. (While cost for electricity/other expenditures are not expected to change significantly over 2009)
The FY2010 city budget submitted by the Mayor--and recently approved by the Council--projects Electric Fund profits to increase over 80% (over last year)--from $1,458,400 to $2,732,828-- apparently due solely to the proposed rate hike on customers. (Expenditures to remain flat, at about $16.7 million)
In 2010, about $1.6 million dollars are projected to be transfered out of the Electric Fund to the General Fund, to run the city/pay salaries, etc--about the same as last year (FY2009).
[Note: $150,000 will be taken out of Electric to fund "Community Development" projects (ie. donations to charities/veterans, chamber of commerce, environmental causes, school study, parades, etc.]
Comments
Fairhope pays an outside consultant to decide how much utility fuel adjustment surcharge should be to meet budget...ever seen salaries vs administrative fees in utility dept? I hope everyone is thinking about 2012 and not just 2010. Thought Mixon and Kingrea would help stop this freight train.