City expected to receive less from Dalton Utilities next year

Charles Oliver

The city of Dalton will be getting less money from Dalton Utilities next year.

Dalton Utilities chief financial officer Tom Bundros told utility board members Monday declining revenue will not affect the utility’s payments to the city of Dalton this year, but they will take a big bite out of the payments in 2009.

Bundros told board members the utility had originally forecast a total transfer payment to the city of $9.2 million to $10 million in 2009 but, based on the latest numbers, that transfer payment is now projected to be about $8 million, about $1 million less than the city expects to receive this year. The transfer payment is based on the utility’s total revenues.

The slowdown in the floorcovering industry has taken a bite out of Dalton Utilities’ revenue. Total operating revenue through June of this year was $84.5 million, down from $86.8 million in the same period in 2007, according to the financial report presented to the utility’s board. Meanwhile, operating expenses rose to $79.6 million from $77.9 million last year. That left the utility with a positive operating margin of $4.9 million, down from $8.9 million last year.

“We’ve seen this coming. The mayor has spoken about it. I’ve spoken about the fact that we are going to see at best a flat transfer payment,” said City Council member Charlie Bethel, who is the city’s liaison to the utility.

“It’s something we are going to have to take into consideration when we sit down and make our budget,” Bethel said.

The utility has taken a big hit on water and wastewater, where total revenues have declined to $18.7 million from $22.2 million in the first half of 2007. The utility is running an operating deficit for the year to date of $1.3 million in water and $246,000 in wastewater.

Electricity has actually held up well because the utility has been able to sell its unused capacity to Georgia Power for almost double what it pays for it, said CEO Don Cope. Cope said Dalton is one of the few areas in the Southeast where demand for energy isn’t growing.

Board members unanimously voted to put out for bid sewer expansion to The Farm, an upscale subdivision on the west side of the county but in Dalton city limits. The estimated cost of that project is $1.65 million. Cope said the utility will cover the costs — about $1.1 million — of taking the sewer main out to The Farm. The rest will be picked up by homeowners.

“Each customer will be charged their prorated portion over time — we’ll bill them a portion every month — for the costs to put in a pump and a valve, valve box, connection station and piping to reach their houses,” he said.

“That will give us 66 new customers at the same time we are taking those septic tanks off line,” Cope said. “That’s subject to approval by the homeowners association at The Farm.”

The board also unanimously voted to put out for bid sewer expansion to the Cedar Ridge School. The estimated $665,000 cost of that project will be paid by Whitfield County Schools.

Cope told board members the Mill Creek wastewater plant is 99.9 percent complete and will start discharging treated water this week.

He told board members that flow in the Conasauga River, the area’s main source of water, averaged 78 cubic feet per second in July. The historical average flow for July is 250 cubic feet per second.

Cope also briefed board members on the state water plan. He said the state hopes to finalize a conservation plan by November.

“Before we know how much water we have or what our long-range needs will be, we are going to implement a conservation plan,” he said.