The 2020 Budget for Southwest Metropolitan Water & Sanitation District was adopted by the Board of Directors on November 22, 2019 and projects a revenue of approximately $2.2M with total expenses at $2.7M. This will result in a deficit of $540,700 and reduction in District reserves from $24.68M to $24.14M. The District does not receive any property tax revenue. Service fees amounting to $1.4M and investment income of $490,000 produce most of the total District revenue. The detailed 2020 Budget can be found on the District’s website under Financial Information.
The district has five main sources of revenue:
- Projected Service Charge – $1.45M (65.6%) – In 2020 the water and sewer service fee will increase from $7.00 to $8.00 per month per ¾” equivalent water tap. Starting January 1, 2020, District customers will see the $8.00 surcharge reflected in their Denver Water bill. Over the past few years, the surcharge has been gradually increased to maintain cash reserves and continue to provide the appropriate level of maintenance to the District’s water delivery and wastewater collection systems.
- Investment Income – $493,620 (22.4%) – This is interest earned on the district’s reserves.
- System Development Fees – $162,000 (7.3%) – Water and sanitary sewer tap permit revenue for the District continues to decline as there is little undeveloped property within the District boundaries. The projected tap fee revenue will be generated from the Wild Plum and Silverleaf developments.
- Other Income – $88,450 (4.0%) – The office lease income consists of another district’s share of operating, maintenance and repair expenses for the administrative office and garage facility located at 8739 W. Coal Mine Ave. That district is contractually obligated to pay 30% of all building costs including projected routine maintenance and repair costs and minor capital improvements. Miscellaneous income consists primarily of fire hydrant use fees which are assessed for use of District owned fire hydrants.
- Contract Service Fees – $7,500 (0.07%) – These fees consist of a biennial charge to the City of Littleton in the amount of $7,500 to transport a set amount of wastewater flow from the City through two of the District’s main wastewater interceptors.
Operating Expenses – $2M
- Water operating and maintenance costs consist of water maintenance materials and the District’s share of labor, equipment, and overhead costs incurred by their contract operations partner district (Platte Canyon Water & Sanitation District).
- Occasionally, the District requires emergency and remedial maintenance services such as excavation work and street restoration. Those are performed by outside contractors.
- Building maintenance expenses include costs for landscaping, janitorial, heating and air condition maintenance, elevator maintenance, painting of interior and exterior of building, and other general repairs and maintenance of the office building.
Capital Projects and Expenses – $740,000
- There are three water main replacement projects scheduled for 2020. Two of these projects will replace old cement and ductile iron pipe with new PVC pipe. The third project involves downsizing an existing PVC pipe to permanently improve the water quality in that area. Currently the water quality is maintained by frequent flushing, which is time-consuming for staff and wastes a large amount of potable water.
More details on these projects can be found in the district’s Capital Master Plan.
