Utilities submits 2008 budget to board

A nearly $1 billion budget proposal for next year was submitted Wednesday to the Utilities Board by Colorado Springs Utilities — a 1.3 percent increase over this year.

The $956 million spending plan includes a 2.95 percent average raise for 1,974 employees. It also includes $160 million for capital projects, about $4 million more than this year.

The rate-supported agency wants to raise residential gas and wastewater rates by $4.29 a month for the typical residential customer. The budget calls for raising small commercial customers’ bills by $23 a month and $226 a month for large commercial users.

Electric and water rates will remain unchanged.

Fuel costs, including gas, coal and purchased power, make up the biggest chunk of proposed spending, at $384.7 million, followed by capital projects, $160 million; labor, $174.9 million; and principal and interest payments on debt, $93.3 million.

Included in the labor cost is $10 million for pay for performance, roughly the amount paid this year in bonuses to employees who met goals. It also includes $1 million for “incentives,” such as the STAR awards program that rewards workers up to 5 percent of their annual pay for outstanding service.

Utilities will cut more jobs next year after eliminating 43 this year. It’s part of a plan to decrease the payroll by 200 positions over five years.

The reductions will mostly involve the meter reading department as the city switches to an automated system, Utilities spokesman Dave Grossman said.

Mayor Lionel Rivera said the Utilities Board, which comprises City Council members, will be most interested in water and wastewater — two areas that pose significant challenges in capital needs. Some of the city’s water pipes are more than 50 years old, for example, and the city’s aging sewer system has contributed to chronic spills that resulted in state-imposed fines.

Yet the budget proposal calls for spending $41.5 million less in 2008 on wastewater capital needs than was spent this year. Rivera said he thought additional spending was contained in operations and maintenance budgets.

The largest share of capital spending would go to electric, $76.7 million, to fund improvements at Drake Power Plant to reduce emissions and to expand hydroelectric capacity.

About $25.5 million would be spent on natural gas projects, about the same as this year, and $57.8 million would fund water projects, up from $42.5 million last year. Water projects include land acquisition for the Southern Delivery System pipeline project from Pueblo Reservoir.

A public hearing on the rateincrease proposal will be held at the Utilities Board meeting at 1 p.m. Nov. 20 on the fifth floor of the Plaza of the Rockies building’s south tower.

A first reading of the budget will be heard by the council Nov. 27 at its formal meeting at 1 p.m. at City Hall, 107 N. Nevada Ave.

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