Utility initiatives adding to Albany’s bottom line

ALBANY — Three programs created in the last year to bring in additional revenue for the Albany Utility Board are already paying big dividends.

Marketing Director Monique Broughton told the Utility Board at its meeting Wednesday that the Main Street On-Bill Financing program sponsored by the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia, the citywide security light campaign and efforts to add new natural gas accounts were adding to the utility’s bottom line.

“We’ve added 26 new or reinstated accounts from July to February; we’ve made 106 on-bill financing loans, and we’ve installed 119 new security lights,” Broughton told the board. “The total value of the loans for the on-bill appliance financing is $347,898.35, and we just started the program in September. By next September, we expect the value to surpass $1 million.

“This, in particular, has been a very successful program. We have 67 more applications on my desk that are being processed.”

The Utility Board has ramped up its marketing campaign and taken an aggressive approach in its attempts to add to the revenue generated through its services.

“The fact that we’re working now with that Rails-to-Trails land (that runs from central Albany into Terrell County along U.S. Highway 82), that footprint is going to open a lot of opportunities for us, particularly with commercial customers,” Assistant City Manager Phil Roberson told the board.

Roberson and city Engineering Director Bruce Maples updated the Utility Board on the newly introduced Bitrix 24 project management software and on the stormwater utility that falls under the utility. Roberson said significantly more money will be needed to upgrade aging infrastructure and to maintain the city’s 22,000 storm structures, 550 miles of streets and drainage, and 350 miles of sewer pipes.

The stormwater utility, one of 50 in the state of Georgia, was created to meet Environmental Protection Division mandates, Roberson said. It is projected to bring in $3,441,176 annually based on the $2.50 ERU (equivalent residential unit) rate that will remain intact through June 30. The rate will increase incrementally to $5.50 per ERU by Fiscal Year 2019, starting with a $1 increase at the start of FY 2016 this July.

“Our $2.50 rate is the lowest in the state,” Roberson said. “It pays for our current operations, so we’ll have to increase the rate if we want to move beyond status quo.”

Maples said city staff has identified 22 projects that could be funded through stormwater collections, including the major overhaul (projected at $50 million) needed for the so-called Holloway Basin. He presented two “quick-fix” options to the costly complete overhaul: $18 million to dig a holding pond sufficient to take pressure off the basin or the $1.2 million purchase of property that is typically flooded during heavy rain events.

“I think it’s vital that our citizens realize (creating the stormwater utility) is not something that was done to make money,” Albany Mayor and Utility Board Chairwoman Dorothy Hubbard said. “We received federal mandates to meet (stormwater) requirements. We stand to be fined (up to $50,000 a day) if we don’t meet EPD requirements.”