►
From YouTube: City Council Budget Work Session – March 23, 2021
Description
March 23, 2021
Asheville City Council Budget Work Session
A
Good
afternoon
and
welcome
to
the
asheville
city
council
budget
work
session.
This
is
our
second
work
session.
So
far,
this
budget
season
and
we've
got
all
of
the
city
council
here
on
this
work
session.
Work
sessions
are,
of
course
open
to
the
public.
We
do
not
take
public
comment,
but
that's
also
because
we
don't
vote
on
anything
during
work
sessions.
These
are
information
sessions
and
I
am
going
to
turn
it
over
to
our
city
manager,
deborah
campbell,
to
take
it
away.
B
B
B
So
with
that,
I
will
turn
it
over
to
our
interim
chief
financial
officer,
tony
mcdowell,
who
will
provide
you
with
information.
I'd
also
like
to
note
that,
toward
almost
the
end
of
the
conference
conversation
a
presentation
when
we
were
talking
about
the
water
rates,
I
believe
we
have
consultants
that
will
provide
you
with
some
additional
information.
So
tony.
C
Yeah,
thank
you
thanks,
debra
and
good
afternoon,
mayor
and
city
council
welcome
to
the
second
of
three
scheduled
budget
work
sessions.
So
thanks
for
the
introduction,
deborah
and
beth,
if
you
want
to
just
move
on
to
the
next
slide
I'll
pick
up
there,
okay,
so
we
always
like
to
start
off
these
presentations
with
some
key
takeaways
for
you
all
to
keep
in
mind
as
we
go
through
the
slides
and
we'll
come
back
and
reiterate
these
once
again
at
the
end.
C
But
for
today's
presentation
we
have
four
key
takeaways
and
and
we're
going
to
focus
on
talking
about
our
enterprise
funds
and,
as
deborah
mentioned
I'll,
give
you
a
little
definition
of
that.
So
enterprise
funds
are
city
operations
that
operate
primarily
like
a
a
private
business.
In
other
words,
they
charge
a
fee
and
in
some
cases
they
charge
a
fee
that
recovers
100
of
their
costs.
C
In
some
cases,
the
fee
doesn't
recover
all
the
costs
like
in
transit
in
the
civic
center
and
we'll
talk
a
little
bit
more
about
that
later
on.
But
that's
essentially
what
our
enterprise
funds
are
and
just
to
kind
of
compare
the
information
we're
going
to
share
with
you
all
today
to
what
we
shared
last
week
or
two
weeks
ago
in
regards
to
the
general
fund.
At
that
time
we
talked
about
how
the
general
fund
overall
has
has
luckily
not
been
severely
impacted
so
far
because
of
the
pandemic.
C
C
But
we'll
share
some
of
the
information
that
we
have
at
this
point
with
you
all.
So
next
slide,
please
pat
okay,
so
we're
going
to
start
off
with
just
a
little
bit
of
review
from
the
from
the
last
budget
work
session.
So,
as
usual,
we
start
with
with
the
calendar
to
kind
of
show
you
all
where
we're
at
in
the
process.
C
Today
we
have
a
third
work
session
scheduled
for
april
13th,
and
in
between
that,
you
all
will
be
talking
about
your
priorities
and
doing
some
team
building
at
your
council
retreat
next
week
and
then
finally,
we'll
roll
into
may
with
the
presentation
of
the
manager's
recommended
budget
on
may
25th,
followed
by
a
budget
work
session.
I'm
sorry
public
hearing
and
potential
budget
work
session
on
june,
8th
and
then
adoption
on
june
22nd,
which
will
keep
us
in
compliance
with
state
statute.
C
Okay,
so
just
a
little
reminder
of
the
things
we
talked
about
at
our
last
budget
work
session,
we
spent
a
great
deal
of
time
going
through
the
the
general
fund
and
kind
of
looking
at
the
current
year
financial
status
and
the
message
there
was
that
in
the
general
fund
at
least,
we
have
an
improving
outlook.
Financially,
our
our
sales
taxes
have
held
up
really
well,
our
property
taxes
have
done
better
than
expected.
C
C
We
also
spent
some
time
talking
about
this
year's
budget
process,
in
particular,
and
some
of
the
things
that
we're
doing
differently
this
year
with
the
budget
process,
we
mentioned
that
we're
really
focusing
on
current
service
levels
and
looking
at
those
service
levels
through
an
equity
lens.
We
talked
a
little
bit
about
some
of
the
work
that
we've
done
internally
with
departments.
C
One
of
those
was
revaluation
and
the
potential
changes
impacts
that
may
have
on
the
property
tax
rate,
and
then
peggy
rose
shared
some
information
with
you
all
about
employee
compensation,
and
we
talked
about
you
know
some
of
the
opportunities
and
challenges
that
both
of
those
items
present
for
the
upcoming
budget
year
next
slide,
and
so
just
a
reminder.
I
mentioned
that
the
external
community
equity
focused
budget
sessions
that
are
going
on.
Those
have
already
started.
The
first
one
happened
on
march
18th.
C
I
bet
you
can
go
on
to
the
next
slide
if
you'd
like,
so
why
charge
why
charge
for
a
service?
So
in
some
cases
the
services
that
we
provide
really
provide
benefits
our
entire
community
and,
if
you
think
of
things
like
fire
and
police
protection,
they
fit
into
that
category,
and
so
those
types
of
services
are
primarily
funded
through
our
property
tax.
C
But
there
are
certain
services
that
we
provide
that
really
benefit
specific
customers
and
in
those
cases
it
makes
more
sense
to
charge
a
fee
for
those
services.
So
you
think
of
things
like
use
of
parking
garages,
parking
meters,
access
to
the
nature
center,
going
to
see
an
event
at
the
civic
center.
Those
are
the
types
of
services
in
which
we
charge
a
fee
for
those
another
reason
to
charge
a
fee
is
it
ensures
access
and
a
good.
C
C
So,
as
you
all
probably
know,
there's
certain
services
that
we
provide
and
I
think,
building
code
enforcement
is
a
good
example
of
that
that
are
statutorily
required
by
the
state
of
the
federal
government
and
so
those
types
of
statutorily
required
services
that
we
provide.
It
makes
more
sense
to
provide
or
to
charge
a
fee
for
those
particular
types
of
items,
as
opposed
to
having
the
property
tax
base
absorb
the
cost
of
those.
C
So
what
are
some
of
the
factors
that
we
look
at
each
year
as
we
go
through
the
budget
process
and
we
think
about
fees
and
think
about
changing
those
fees?
Obviously,
we
look
at
the
cost
to
provide
the
service
and
we
set
the
the
the
fees
in
many
cases
based
on
that
cost,
to
provide
the
service
and
we
think
about
something
called
a
cost
recovery
level.
In
other
words,
do
we
want
to
do
do
we
want
to
set
the
fee
at
a
level
that
recovers
100,
of
the
cost
of
providing
a
service
or
something.
C
That's
a
conversation
we
we
have
as
we're
going
through
the
budget
process.
We
think
about
who
benefits
from
the
service
and
we
oftentimes
engage
outside
consultants
to
help
us
with
our
rate,
setting
and
fee
setting
through
fee
studies,
and
in
recent
years
we've
had
fee
studies
done
by
outside
consultants
for
fees
in
our
development
services,
area
parks
and
recreation,
and
then
obviously,
water,
which
you
all
are
going
to
hear
a
little
bit
about
a
little
bit
more
about
later
on.
C
Okay
next
slide,
so
you
all
saw
this
donut
chart
at
the
last
work
session,
and
this
is
our
general
fund
and
a
breakdown
of
our
general
fund
revenues
and
the
reason
we
included
this
chart
again.
This
time
is
just
to.
We
want
to
kind
of
highlight
the
difference
between
the
general
fund
revenue
structure
and
our
enterprise
fund
revenue
structure.
C
So
if
you
remember
from
last
time
property
and
sales
taxes,
you,
as
you
can
see,
make
up
about
75
to
80
percent
of
the
overall
general
fund
revenue,
there's
that
smaller
slice
up
in
the
right-hand
corner,
that
we
called
other
and
that's
where
our
general
fund
fee
revenue
is
so
things
like
these
from
development
services,
solid
waste
and
parks
or
in
or
in
that
27
million.
But
there
are
some
other
things
in
that
category
as
well,
so
fees
don't
make
up
that
that
full
amount.
C
But,
like
I
said,
we
don't
want
to
forget
that
in
the
general
fund
two
there
are.
There
are
some
fairly
significant
fee
revenue
sources,
and
we
just
want
to
highlight
a
few
of
those
here
in
particular,
solid
waste.
There
is
a
monthly,
solid
waste
fee
that
citizens
pay
on
their
water
bills
and
that
generates
about
5
million
dollars
annually.
That
goes
to
support
the
cost
of
that
service.
C
There's
also
fees
in
our
development
areas
such
as
dsd
planning
and
the
actual
fire
department,
and
together
those
fees
provide
about
3.8
million
dollars
in
revenue
and
also
in
parks
and
recreation
for
things
like
the
nature
center
for
classes
for
athletics,
those
kinds
of
things
and
those
those
fees
bring
in
about
one
and
a
half
million
dollars-
and
we
mentioned
these
for
for
a
couple
reasons.
One
again
again.
C
One
in
particular,
we
want
to
highlight
is,
with
the
solid
waste
fee
there
that
that
being
covers
the
cost
of
both
both
of
our
both
our
regular
garbage
collection,
as
well
as
our
recycling
program
and
we're
expecting
some.
Some
pretty
significant
increases
in
recycling
costs,
contract
contract
costs
moving
forward
in
the
next
fiscal
year,
and
so
we're
evaluating
whether
we
would
want
to
include
a
fee
increase
to
help
offset
some
of
those
cost
increases
for
recycling
next
slide.
C
Like
I
mentioned,
we
want
to
primarily
focus
on
the
enterprise
funds
as
we
talk
through
fees.
So
these
are
the
list
of
all
of
our
enterprise
funds.
We
have
six
of
them.
The
largest
by
far
is
water
resources
and
we'll
spend
a
little
bit
more
time
talking
in
depth
about
the
water
fees
and
the
changes
there,
and
these
numbers
out
beside
each
of
the
enterprise
funds
represents
the
adopted
budget
for
this
year.
C
So
you
can
see
water
funds
by
far
the
way,
the
largest
enterprise
fund
at
33
million
there's
also
storm
water
and
parking
at
about
6.6
million
street
cut
because
it
is
a
smaller
enterprise
fund,
just
under
two
million
dollar
budget
and
then
the
other
two
enterprise
funds
we
list
below
are
ones
that
I
mentioned,
that
we
do
charge
fees
for,
but
the
fees
don't
fully
support
the
operation
of
those
funds.
So
in
the
transit
fund,
it's
about
a
12
million
dollar
budget.
C
This
year
we
do
get
significant
revenue
from
federal,
from
federal
and
state
grants,
as
well
as
support
from
the
general
fund
and
the
parking
fund
to
support
that
operation
and
the
same
in
the
the
harris
center
budget
as
well.
It's
about
a
3.8
million
dollar
budget
and
then
there's
about
a
one
million
dollar
transfer
from
the
general
fund
to
support
operations
there,
but
those
funds
at
the
top.
As
I
mentioned,
those
are
all
fully
supported
by
the
fees
that
they
charge
their
customers.
E
C
Think
the
general
fund
and
taylor
may
be
able
to
check
this
and
send
me
a
number,
and
I
can
share
with
you-
I
think
it's
somewhere
in
the
neighborhood
of
seven
million
dollars.
That's
general
fund
support.
It's
gone
up
as
transit
has,
as
it
has
expanded
and
we've
expanded
service
in
the
transit
area
over
the
last
few
years.
We've
primarily
done
that
by
funding
it
through
the
general
fund
by
increasing
the
general
fund
transfer.
Thank
you.
C
We'll
start
with
the
harris
center
harris
cherokee
center
fund-
and
this
is
an
operation
that
has
been
significantly
impacted.
Obviously
by
covid
there's
been
no
regular
events
scheduled
at
the
at
the
center
since
march
13th
of
2020,
as
you
all
know,
there's
been
some
basketball
events
there,
but
they
haven't
been.
You
know
fully.
Full
attendance
hasn't
been
allowed
at
those
events,
and
so,
as
a
result,
there's
been
significant
impact
on
the
revenue
side
of
the
budget
in
the
in
the
harris
center.
C
Obviously,
another
operation-
that's
been
significantly
impacted
by
by
covid,
just
as
a
reminder
that
we
went
through
a
period
primarily
last
fiscal
year
where
parking
fees
were
not
assessed,
on-street
or
meter.
Parking
fees
were
not
charged
from
march
15th
to
june
1st
of
last
year
and
off-street
or
garage
revenues
or
fees
were
not
charged
from
march
15th
all
the
way
through
august
1st
of
this
year.
C
So
there
was
some
significant
loss
of
revenue
when
we
weren't
charging
fees
and
even
though
we
began
charging
fees
again.
Obviously,
demand
has
not
returned
to
the
levels
that
it
was
at
prior
to
the
pandemic
and
so
much
like
with
the
with
the
cellular
center.
I'm
sorry
with
the
harris
center,
we
have
seen
significant
underperformance
in
terms
of
revenue
through
the
first
eight
months
of
the
year
in
the
parking
fund,
we
were
down
about
2.2
million
dollars
in
terms
of
revenue
compared
to
where
we
were
last
fiscal
year.
At
this
time.
C
C
We
also
reduced
the
amount
of
money
that
the
parking
fund
puts
into
its
capital
program
every
year
to
try
and
to
try
and
offset
that
anticipated
loss
in
revenue,
so
so
we're
trying
to
manage
the
budget
and
stay
within
our
existing
resources
there,
but
much
like
with
the
cellular
with
the
sahara
center
old
habits
die
hard.
I'm
sorry
much
like
with
the
harris
center
we've
been
using
fund
balance
in
the
parking
fund
there
to
offset
some
of
the
lower
revenues
that
have
been
coming
in
and
one.
C
To
highlight
kind
of
moving
forward
to
next
year
and
looking
at
the
budget
for
the
parking
fund,
there
is
a
need
to
replace
the
the
gate
equipment
in
the
garages.
It's
it's
old,
it's
antiquated
and
needs
to
be
replaced,
and
when
that
happens,
there
will
likely
be
a
adjustment
that
we
have
to
make
to
fees
as
a
part
of
that
switching
out
of
the
equipment.
C
C
Because
of
cobid.
Luckily,
we
have
received,
cares,
act
money
through
the
first
round
of
stimulus
dollars
to
help
offset
some
of
that
impact.
We
got
about
3.68
million
to
date,
and
it
has
been
fully
at
this
point
fully
utilized
to
cover
the
additional
expenses
and
loss
of
revenue
that
we've
seen
today.
C
We
have
luckily
the
carex
money
helped
us
get
through
a
loss
of
revenue
from
the
from
the
state
as
well.
You
all
may
remember
that
the
what's
called
the
smat
funding
from
the
state
was
withheld
this
fiscal
year.
The
state,
let
us
know
very
near
the
end
of
the
budget
process
that
we
wouldn't
be
receiving
that
money
this
year,
and
that
was
a
loss
of
about
1.1
million
dollars
which
again
we've
offset
with
some
cares.
D
C
Thank
you
and
I
did
get
the
back
to
council
member
turner's
question.
So
the
the
amount
of
the
general
fund
subsidy
to
transit
this
year
is
about
6.8
million
so
and
then
the
last
thing
I
would
say
on
this,
this
slide
again
kind
of
looking
forward
to
next
year's
budget
and
potential
cost
increases.
We
are
looking
at
a
kind
of
an
annual
increase
in
the
contract
costs
that
we
have
with
retp
dev,
to
provide
the
service,
and
so
that
would
be
a
contract,
cost
increase
exclusive
of
any.
C
All
right
next
slide
all
right,
storm
water
fund
so
again
another
one
of
our
enterprise
funds
that
charges
a
fee.
It's
fully
supported
by
fees
and
one
of
the
things
we
want
to
well.
A
couple
things
we
want
to
highlight
here:
one
is
that
typically,
each
year
we
do
a
five
percent
increase
in
stormwater
fees
to
to
keep
up
with
the
cost
of
providing
service
to
begin
or
to
continue
to
provide
money
toward
capital
needs
in
that
fund.
C
Next
slide,
so
just
a
quick
summary
and
then
I'll
stop
and
let
you
all
ask
any
questions
that
you
may
have
so
kind
of
an
impact
or
a
reminder
of
the
impacts
that
covet
has
had
on
the
enterprise
funds.
Again
in
harris
center
we've
seen
substantial
revenue
loss
revenues
are
down
about
two
million
dollars
to
the
first
eight
months
of
this
fiscal
year.
Same
thing
in
the
parking
fund.
C
C
One
of
the
provisions
in
that
bill
is
that
it
will
allow
local
governments
to
apply
some
of
that
money
toward
revenue.
That's
been
lost
because
of
the
pandemic,
and
so,
as
we
move
forward
over
the
next
few
months,
we'll
be
reviewing
opportunities
that
we
have
with
those
dollars
to
make
up
some
of
the
lost
revenue
that
we
have
seen
in
these
enterprise
funds
over
the
last
12
months
or
so.
E
I
have
a
question,
I
think
I'm
not
sure
if
this
will
be
best
for
you
or
jessica.
It's
a
broader
question
about
ridership
on
the
bus,
so
we're
still
limiting
to
10
to
the
young
buses
or
the
supplemental
behind
it,
we're
looking
at
an
additional
2
million.
Do
we
have
any
idea
when
more
riders
it
might
be
safe
for
more
riders
to
be
on
the
bus.
F
That's
a
great
question
and
I
don't
have
a
great
answer
for
it.
I
think.
As
long
as
we
have
social
distancing
standards
in
place
to
some
extent,
then
we
will
be
limiting
capacity.
So
we
are,
you
know
following
the
the
state's
lead
and
the
county's
lead,
and
I
would
expect
that
as
long
as
there's
capacity
restrictions
in
you
know
things
like
restaurants
and
retail,
that
we
will
be
applying
that
that
line
of
thinking
to
our
buses
as
well.
D
D
The
reason
I'm
asking
this
is
because
if
we
had
implemented
fiscal
year,
two
of
the
south
asheville
service
would
we
have
needed
youngs,
because
the
impact
of
having
duplicate
service.
So
what
I
really
need
to
know
is
how
many
trips
of
young's
have
been
required
to
south
asheville
and
then
the
second
part
is
liquidated.
Damages
we
switched
to
a
new
contract
which
was
significantly
more
expensive,
but
have
we
been
paying
for
roots
during
the
pandemic
and
during
this
fiscal
cycle
that
we
haven't
run.
F
F
Primarily,
I
think
in
the
beginning
of
the
pandemic,
when
we
had
several
of
the
ratpd
ratp
dev
drivers
out,
there
were
some
instances
where
we
may
have
had
some
other
routes
sell,
but
I
would
say
for
about
the
last
seven
or
so
months.
It's
strictly
been
on
those
four
routes.
So
so
we
have
not
had
any
on
the
s6
that
I'm
aware
of,
but
the
s3
we
have
and
the
second
part
of
your
question
as
to
liquidated
damages
we.
D
Thank
you
jessica.
Is
it
possible
for
us
to
get
a
report
on
how
many
mistrips
we've
had
either
due
to
like
a
breakdown
of
equipment,
a
failure,
or
maybe
it
was
a
fleet
issue,
or
maybe
it
was
not
having
enough
staff,
but
also
just
a
general
report
on
how
many
routes
have
been
missed
yeah.
We
can
do
that
for.
G
Just
just
a
quick
reminder:
we
are
currently
operating
a
route
outside
of
the
city
limits
and
we
are
not
being
reimbursed
for
the
full
cost
of
that.
I
would
I'd
like
to
see
that
addressed
either
by
either
we
get
the
funding
from
the
county
or
the
city
of
black
mountain
or
someplace
else,
or
we
discontinue
that
service
outside
the
city
limits.
E
I'll
kind
of
add
on
to
that
comment
that
I
was
thinking
about
the
change
in
the
paratransit
and
things
that
were
changing
with
the
county,
and
now
that
we
know
some
of
this
recovery
act
dollars
are
coming
into
the
community
and
the
county
is
too.
I
wonder
if
we're
talking
to
them
about
joining
forces
again.
I
know
they
got
a
pretty
big
pool
and
it
sounds
like
we're
going
to
take
a
pretty
hard
hit
from
this
one
more
so
than
they
are.
D
F
Yes,
yes,
we
can
do
that
when
we
were
weighing
the
decision
of
whether
or
not
to
suspend
that
weekend
service
and
again
that's
late
night
service.
On
friday
nights
and
saturday
nights
on
the
n1
route,
we
looked
at
past
ridership
numbers
and
and
concluded
that
there
were,
I
think,
an
average
of
two
somewhere
between
two
and
eight
people.
D
F
C
Okay,
that's
we
can
go
to
the
next
slide.
Okay,
so
we're
we're.
Gonna
spend
the
next
part
of
the
presentation
talking
about
the
water
resources
fund
and
I'll
kind
of
kick
things
off,
and
then
I'll
turn
it
over
to
our
consultants
from
dec.
To
give
you
all
some
some
more
detail
on
where
we're
at
where
we're
at
with
water
rates,
so
next
slide
beth.
C
C
We
employ
some
some
outside
consultants,
folks
from
dec
folks,
from
also
from
a
group
called
raftalus
out
of
charlotte
that
helps
develop
our
rate
model
for
us
to
make
sure
that,
over
time,
we're
bringing
in
enough
money
to
support
capital
to
support
operations
to
pay
our
debt
to
meet
our
debt
service
coverage
obligations,
which
are
something
which
is
something
that
our
rating
agencies
look
at.
They.
C
C
So
just
a
little
background.
So
in
in
2018,
the
north
carolina
north
carolina
supreme
court
issued
an
opinion
that
has
impacted
water
systems
and
sewer
systems
throughout
the
state.
And
what
that
opinion
said
was
that
local
government
cities
are
not
permitted
to
charge.
What's
called
water
and
sewer
impact
fees,
and
so.
C
That
ruling
was
handed
down
there.
There
began
to
be
a
number
of
lawsuits
across
the
state
where
law
firms
were
filing
these
lawsuits
against
cities
in
north
carolina
that
had
been
charging
fees
that
were
similar
to
impact
fees
over
the
last
few
years,
and
so
asheville
was
not.
It
was
not
immune
to
that,
and
so,
if
you
go
to
the
next
slide,
beth
asheville
was
was
sued
in
two
class
action.
C
Lawsuits
based
on
around
our
capital
improvement
fee
that
we
charge
or
we're
charging,
and
so
the
capital
improvement
fee
was
a
it's
a
charge
that
was
based
on
the
size
of
a
meter
and
so
every
every
customer
paid
it
all
residential
customers,
all
commercial
customers,
and
again
it
was
based
on
on
the
size
of
the
meter.
So
the
larger
the
meter
size,
the
the
higher
the
fee,
was
that
a
customer
was
was
charged,
and
so
what
happened?
C
C
H
F
H
H
The
city
has
done
multi-year
operating
and
budget
projections
for
for
some
time
now.
Looking
at
what
will
happen
down
the
road,
it
has
established,
fund
balance
and
liquidity
retention
policies
to
make
sure
that
there
was
adequate
resources
to
meet
times
like
we've
just
gone
through,
which
the
covid
and
the
uncertainties
that
it
brought.
H
And
then,
today,
our
primary
subject
will
be
about
asheville
water
and
how
it
has
managed
and
equipped
itself
from
a
capital
program
perspective.
So
what
is
your
city?
What
is
the
city's
history
on
these
important
elements
of
financial
planning?
Well,
you've
been
into
multi-year
planning
for
a
number
of
years.
As
I
said
earlier,
you
have
fund
policies,
you
have
a
multi-year
cip
that
shows
us
both
borrowed
and
pay-as-you-go
sources,
so
as
to
diversify
the
capital
program.
H
H
You
got
your
second
rating
at
that
point
and
that
just
provides
a
really
sound
means
to
look
at
from
a
third-party
source,
how
you
do
your
planning
and
how
you've
managed
it
over
time
there
were
a
series
of
rating
upgrades
to
have
you
come
to
the
highest
category,
with
some
pretty
hard
work.
I
will
say
this:
there
are
few
aaa
rated
cities.
There
are
more
in
north
carolina
than
anywhere
else
in
the
country,
and
you
are
part
of
that
limited
group,
even
in
north
carolina,
that
has
the
highest
credit
standards.
H
H
The
other
thing
that
is
often
looked
at
up
at
is
how
the
distribution
of
your
fees
between
your
customer
types,
the
reasonableness
of
them,
and
how
do
they
compare
to
other
water
systems?
Are
we
splitting
the
revenues
between
the
commercial
and
the
residential
side
in
a
sound
way
and
then,
finally,
as
is
done
by
any
other
city
that
looks
at
their
rates,
they
look
at
yours
and
many
others
that
they
consider
to
be
peer
systems
and
say
overall,
how
do
we
compare
from
a
water
rate
perspective
next
slide.
H
Please
the
second
feature
to
look
at
between
the
rate
structure
themselves
and
how
it's
split
between
fixed
and
variable
and
the
various
customer
types
is
what
is
the
adequacy
of
the
revenues
that
are
produced
from
these
user
fees?
It's
important
to
note
from
you
and
tony
mentioned
this
earlier.
You
have
a
separate
credit
rating
for
your
water
system
and
that
credit
rating
is
a
water
and
is
a
water
system,
revenue
bond
and
so
essentially
that
revenue
bond
or
that
repayment
of
debt
is
done
solely
off
of
the
revenues
produced
from
the
system.
H
There's
no
requirement
for
input
from
the
taxpayer
or
anyone
else,
it's
purely
system
revenues,
and
so
that
that
makes
for
an
important
reason
to
look
at
rates
of
your
revenues
and
the
rates
and
how
they
are
operating
inside
a
set
of
credit
metrics.
And
I'm
going
to
talk
to
you
just
a
little
bit
about
that
in
the
next
slide.
So,
first
and
foremost,
are
the
total
fees
collected
adequate
to
do
operations
as
well
as
capital
needs
and
unfortunately,
for
many
systems
in
the
past
often
capital
has
had
to
be
delayed.
H
I
will
say
from
your
circumstance
in
looking
at
the
city
of
asheville
and
and
in
the
past
time
periods.
I
think
you
all
have
done
a
really
good
job
in
looking
at
the
long-term
capital
needs
the
uniqueness
of
a
water
system
that
operates
in
the
mountains
compared
to
one
that
operates
on
flatter
ground
and
how
that
cost
and
capital
need
is
defined
by
your
location,
your
customer
base
and
so
forth.
H
How
rapidly
you
can
issue
debt
underneath
your
revenue
bond
and
how
it
works,
and
I
just
will
say
to
you
that
you've
done
that
longer
than
many
other
cities
that
are
much
larger
than
you
are
and
then.
Finally,
as
a
revenue
bond
issuer,
there
are
covenants
inside
your
revenue
bond
issuance
on
maintenance
of
revenues.
H
H
I
just
wanted
to
do
this
rapidly,
especially
for
those
that
may
not
have
looked
at
this
for
a
while
and
talking
about
what
a
revenue
bond
or
how
it's
looked
at
and
rated.
You
are
rated
by
two
rating
agencies
for
your
water
revenue
bonds
and
you
are
rated
double
a1
and
double
a
plus,
which
is
the
highest
rating
that
you
can
have
for
a
high
double
a
credit.
H
Essentially
that's
all,
but
a
triple
a
it's
the
highest.
You
can
get
before
moving
there,
you
price
very
efficiently
when
you
sell
bonds,
and
so
I
feel
really
good
at
that
because
of
the
high
ratings.
If
you
look
at
moody's,
which
is
sort
of
the
left
side
of
the
page,
the
number
one
name
you
tend
to
see
on
rating
pages.
If
you
look
at
them,
they
have
four
areas
that
they
look
at
in
terms
of
rating
you,
especially
as
high
as
you're
rated
first
is
characteristics
of
the
system.
H
It's
financial
strength,
as
you
can
well
see
the
largest
single
category,
how
it's
managed
and
then
finally,
how
did
the
legal
provisions
inside
the
bond
documents
look?
Are
they
adequate
and
so
forth?
The
system
characteristics
is
the
one
that
you
control,
probably
the
least,
because
it's
based
primarily
on
wealth
levels
in
the
community
ability
to
pay
and
also
size
of
the
system
for
the
financial
strength
and
management
side,
which
combined
is
60
of
the
rating.
They
look
at
sound
and
consistent
rate
setting.
How
have
you
maintained
rate
rate
setting
over
the
years?
Are
they
consistent?
H
Are
they
diverse?
Can
they
meet
good
times
and
bad
times?
They
look
at
debt
service
coverage
and
how
you
meet
your
own
policies
for
debt
service
coverage.
They
look
at
what
we've
all
kind
of
looked
at
in
any
rating
of
a
business
oriented
type
of
operation
as
this
enterprise
is
how
many
days
cash
on
hand.
Do
you
have?
How
long
can
you
float
the
system
if
you
have
a
revenue
problem
and
then.
H
H
It
allows
you
to
creatively
structure
your
debt
repayment,
because
people
have
strong
feelings
about
your
ability
to
repay
them
and
then
to
me
the
biggest
almost
more
than
the
other
two,
and
this
probably
sounds
counterintuitive,
but
the
greatest
access
to
financial
markets.
Many
of
us
remember
2008
the
problems
in
covid
because
in
the
early
days
of
cobit
covid
financial
markets
were
very
tough
and
so
really
to
be
highly
rated
in
many
respects.
H
So
I
just
want
to
summarize
and
then,
of
course,
I'm
available
to
you
as
need
be
for
questions.
I
believe
how
at
least
our
working
group
has
been
looking
at
the
realignment
recommendations
that
will
be
coming
to
council
on
the
rates
due
to
the
external
circumstances
that
we've
had
to
deal
with
are
sound.
H
H
Continuing
is
a
very
strong
credit
entity
and
therefore
will
retain
its
ratings.
I
think
our
challenge
is
to
say
here:
are
the
rates
as
they're
being
looked
at,
we're
looking
at
a
four
to
five
year
time
period
for
recovery
of
total
revenues?
We
know
we
should
not
do
that
in
one
year
alone,
and
so
I
think
that's
our
challenge
to
describe
where
we
are,
how
we're
planning
what
we're
doing
so
with
that.
C
All
right
well,
thank
you.
Thank
you,
doug.
Thank
you
very
much.
We
have
a
couple
more
slides
to
wrap
up
this
section
and
then
happy
to
answer.
I
can
answer
any
questions
you
only
have
or
doug
can
answer
any
questions
as
well.
So
just
to
kind
of
summarize
again,
we've
talked
a
lot
in
theory
and
concept
about
where
we're
going
to
go
with
the
rates.
C
And
so
what
happened
when
that
fee
went
away
this
this
year
was
folks
actually
saw
a
decrease
in
their
bills,
and
so
the
average
user
saw
their
bill
go
down
by
about
eight
dollars
and
fifty
cents
in
the
current
year.
And
so
you
can
see
the
the
the
proposed
rates
that
we
are
looking
at
over
the
next
five
years
going
back
coming
up
in
the
future.
C
So
it
would
be
an
increase
compared
to
what
they're
paying
this
year,
but
actually
still
be
lower
than
the
rate
that
they
were
paying
two
years
ago
before
the
before
the
cip
fee
went
away,
and
so
that's
kind
of
what
we
were
talking
about
in
terms
of
easing
back
into
the
charges
and
recovering
the
revenue
over
time
and
then
the
final
row
at
the
bottom.
Again.
We
want
to
kind
of
highlight
that
we're
what
doug
said
that
we're
not
getting
all
the
revenue
back
in
one
year.
C
So
just
in
summary,
the
the
next
slide
bet
and
then
we'll
we'll
pause.
And
let
you
all
ask
any
questions,
and
so
the
rate
realignment
that
we're
proposing
that
we
worked
with
dec
and
raft
alice
to
to
come
up
with
over
the
last
several
months
meets
the
legal
requirements
of
the
lawsuits
and
the
settlements.
C
As
I
said,
it
eases
us
into
revenue
recovery
over
time
to
lessen
the
burden
on
customers
and
it
provides
sufficient
resources
to
meet
those
operating
and
capital
needs,
as
we
move
into
the
future
and
also
meet
the
debt
rating
agency.
Cover
debt
coverage
ratios
that
they
look
at
when
they're
assigning
a
city
of
asheville
debt
ratings
and
and
the
cost
of
borrowing.
C
G
Tony,
it's
gwen.
Thank
you
for
this.
Maybe
I
missed
it,
and-
and
maybe
I
don't
even
remember
where
we
are
in
the
cycle,
but
we
went
through
a
period
of
time
where
we
were
adjusting
commercial
rates
up,
because
we
had
studied
and
and
determined
that
our
commercial
rates
were
not
equitable
compared
to
our
residential
rates.
Where
are
we
in
that
cycle
and
and
and
relative
to
this
new
proposal?
G
C
Got
you
okay?
Well,
thanks
for
the
question-
and
I
forgot
to
mention-
I
think
david
melton
is
on
the
meeting
as
well,
so
he
may
have
to
help
me
out
with
some
of
the
questions.
Hopefully,
david
is
there
but
you're
right.
We
were
prior
to
the
pandemic
when
we
were
doing
regular
annual
rate
increases.
Those
rate
increases
were
designed
to
change
or
alter
or
narrow
the
gap
between
the
the
rates
and
the
fees
that
were
being
charged
commercial
users,
particularly
large
commercial
users
and
residential
users,
and
so
yeah.
C
I
No,
I
think,
that's
completely
accurate,
tony
and
good
afternoon.
Everybody
and
the
new
rate
structure
is
based
on
industry
standards
for
flows
of
meters,
so
it's
equitable
across
the
board,
basically
on
the
amount
of
water
that
you
can
receive.
If
that
makes
sense.
So
if
you've
got
a
larger
meter,
you're
going
to
pay
a
higher
price
so
that
that
kind
of
smooths
it
out
and
makes
it
more
equitable
across
the
board.
C
D
Yeah,
it
kind
of
I
think
it
works
with
what
gwen's
talking
about.
I
appreciate
your
questions
gwen,
so
I
see
the
data
based
on
average
user.
What
other
categories
of
users
users
are
there
in
addition
to
residential
and
commercial?
So
are
there
differentials
due
to
bulk
use
compared
to
residential
use.
I
There
is,
we
have
primarily
residential
users,
then
we
have
commercial
users,
industrial
and
wholesale.
We
wholesale
to
three
other
entities,
so
the
rates
are
are
set
up,
so
they're
equal
for
the
types
kind
of
as
doug
was
alluding
to.
So
if
and
a
lot
of
that
is
is
per
sullivan,
all
all
the
residential
customers
are
treated
the
same
and
every
other
customer
class
is
treated
the
same
within
their
class.
If
that
makes
sense,
but
that's
that's
our
base
of
our
users.
Yes,.
A
Just
to
clarify
on
this
question,
there
is
a
difference
between
the
number
of
accounts.
So
like
do
you
have
how
many
accounts
and
how
and
there's
and
the
actual
usage.
So
are
you
asking
like
how
much
water
do
all
residential
users
use
of
the
hole
or
how
many
customers
do
they
make
up
of
the
whole
both.
I
I
D
Okay,
so
that
that
informs
like
the
next
series
of
questions,
which
is
what
is
the
measurement
and
basis
for
bulk
rating
like
how
much
water
does
would
have
to
be
used
to
meet
that
bulk
capacity?
And
then
what
would
the
impact
on
our
system
characteristics
be,
because
earlier
it
was
named
as
like.
A
wealth
level.
I
As
far
as
bulk,
or
do
you
mean
like
wholesale
rates
right
and
that's
that's
the
only
rate
we
have
for
other
well,
our
users
of
the
town
of
black
mountain,
the
town
of
biltmore
forest
and
the
town
of
woodfin,
so
it's
a
government
entity.
Basically
that
gets
that
wholesale
rate
as
far
as
bulk
rates.
We
we
don't
have
that
it's.
I
I
guess
the
difference
is
a
good
way
to
put
it.
I'm
trying
to
figure
this,
how
to
say
this,
but,
but
I
think
the
if
you
look
at
usage
on
an
individual
basis
that
that's
a
good
way
to
look
at
it,
because
a
commercial
application
like
a
a
restaurant
is
obviously
going
to
use
more
water
than
a
residential
customer.
I
D
So
I
guess
the
thing
that's
missing
is
when
the
presentation
says
average,
what
does
the
typical
or
average
residential
customer
pay
per
gallon
compared
to
what
a
like
a
laundry
service
at
a
hotel
pay
per
gallon?
That's
like
the
spirit
of
where
I'm
headed
with
this
is
when
we
have
this
bulk
rate,
then
is
it
up
to
the
government
entity
like,
in
this
case
the
city
of
asheville
or
the
metropolitan
sewerage
district
to
set
wholesale
rates
or
commercial
rates.
A
A
A
And
maybe
it's
about
and
we've
even
done
pretty
deep
dives
in
the
past
to
make
sure
our
various
rate
categories
were
kind
of
in
line
with
the
norm
for
for
pricing,
you
know
when
you
compare
it
across
systems
like
what's
the
city
of
raleigh
charging
for
water,
that
that
kind
of
thing,
so
I
think
that's
kind
of
what
you're
asking
to
look
look
at
information
like
that.
Can
that
can
that
be
provided
I'm
assuming
that's
not
too
difficult.
E
A
And
staff
can
send
it
and
normally,
I
know
we're
doing
this
budget
work
session.
Normally
rates
in
general
make
their
way
through
finance
subcommittee
and
they
do
take
a
look
at
each
of
those
categories,
and
so
when
there
was
a
discussion
about
adjusting
our
commercial
rates
in
the
past,
it
was
you
know
to
the
point
that
point
we
realized
our
commercial
rates
were
too
low
relative
to
our
residential
rates
and
too
much
of
our
revenue
is
coming
from
residential
customers
versus
commercial
customers.
So
that's
been
several
years
then
of
adjustments.
G
There's
your
hands
up
and
when
handsome
I
do
it's
very
exciting
to
use
this
little
function
can
for
the
finance
committee
meeting
and
then
you
know
ultimately
for
city
council.
Can
you
just
give
us
a
little
bit
of
history
of
what
our
rates
look
like?
You
know,
over
a
10-year
period,
but
also
compare
that
to
what
msd
did,
because
it
seems
like
msc
kind
of
continuous
every
year
increases
their
rates
and
I'm
just
curious
more
from
the
standpoint
of
our
citizens.
G
You
know,
I'm
not
sure
they
fully
distinguish
that
that
the
city
of
asheville
earns
the
money
off
the
water
and
then
msd
is
a
separate,
a
separate
entity
because
we
bill
for
both
of
them.
So
I'd
just
be
interested
to
see
kind
of
what
we
were
doing
rate
wise
and
then
it
gets
complicated
because
we
charge
not
a
we
charge
kind
of
a
a
base
fee
and
then
a
fee
for
usage
right.
E
E
I
think
it's
gonna
be
hard
for
us
as
a
body
to
raise
any
taxes
or
even
think
about
raising
fees
to
customers,
but
then,
I
think
about
all
the
water
issues
we've
had
in
the
brown
water,
and
it
wasn't
that
long
ago
that
we
were
in
a
constant
state
of
water
chaos,
so
in
general
I'm
supportive
of
us
returning
to
a
system
that
allows
us
to
get
on
track
with
our
water
infrastructure.
I
just
wanted
to
share
some
kudos
for
the
work
done
so
far,
a
longer
term.
Look.
Thank
you.
C
Well
and
thank
you
all
and-
and
I
know,
beth
has
been
working
to
try
and
get
a
finance
committee
meeting
scheduled,
I
think,
for
early
april,
and
we
can
certainly
provide
additional
information
and
detail
at
that
meeting
and
at
this
any
subsequent
subsequent
city
council
meetings
where
we
discuss
the
water
rates.
So
any
other
questions
on
water.
You
all
want
to
move
forward
to
the
final
part
of
our
presentation
today,.
B
We
certainly
didn't
want
to
look
at
this
in
isolation,
because
this
is
what
only
one
enterprise
account
there
may
be
increases
in
parking.
There
may
be
income,
so
we
we.
We
really
try
to
look
at
across
the
board
at
the
number
of
other
fees.
That
may
be
increased
to
think
about
the
cumulative
effect
of
increasing
fees
and
not
just
ace.
Well,
we
kind
of
looked
at
them
on
an
individual
basis,
but
also
being
very,
very
cognizant
of
the
cumulative
impact
of
the
increases.
C
Thank
you
deborah
and
thank
you
doug
and
david
for
being
there
to
help
help
answer
some
questions.
Thank
you
all
very
much
so
moving
on
to
the
the
final
part
of
our
presentation
today-
and
this
will
be
brief-
primarily
because
we're
really
in
the
early
stages
of
learning
about
the
american
rescue
plan
and
learning
the
details
of
it,
and
so
we
have
a
couple
slides
on
it.
C
There
was
a
webinar
this
morning
that
the
north
carolina
league
municipalities
presented,
and
there
were
folks
from
the
from
the
national
league
of
cities
there
to
talk
about
guidance
and
and
folks
are
really
preaching
patience
right
now,
as
as
we
wait
to
get
additional
information
from
the
federal
government
about
what
we
can
use
those
dollars
on
right
now,
it
does
look
like
we're
going
to
get
about
26
million
dollars
directly
allocated
to
the
city.
It's
the
city
of
asheville.
C
C
The
way
the
system
is
set
up
or
is
planned
to
be
set
up
right
now
is
that
we'll
receive
those
payments
or
that
allocation
in
two
payments.
The
first
would
be
within
60
days
of
when
the
law
was
signed
and
the
second
half
of
the
money
would
come
one
year
later,
and
so
that's
much
different
than
than
most
prior
federal
government
dollars
that
we've
received,
especially
for
cova.
C
It's
usually
reimbursement,
based
where
you
have
to
spend
the
money
first,
and
then
you
receive
reimbursement,
but
we're
actually
going
to
be
receiving
the
cash
for
this
plan
up
front
and
the
current
deadline
for
having
used
those
dollars
is
december.
31St
2024.,
I
heard
on
the
call
last
week
that
that
that
deadline
might
possibly
be
changed,
but
that's
the
deadline
currently-
and
I
heard
on
the
call
this
morning
that
we're
still
trying
to
get
clarification
on
whether
it
means
fully
spent
or
obligated
or
encumbered.
C
C
So
again,
just
to
finish
up
the
the
key
takeaways
that
we
started
with
about.
I
don't
know
an
hour
and
15
minutes
ago,
or
so
were
the
the
impact,
the
adverse
impact,
that's
that
the
pandemic
has
had
on
our
enterprise
funds.
We
highlighted
in
in
harris
cherokee
center
in
the
transit
fund
and
parking
some
of
the
impacts
on
both
the
operating
and
revenue
side
of
the
budget.
C
We
talked
a
lot
about
the
the
fees
and
the
fee
changes
that
we're
looking
at
currently,
particularly
the
water
fee
realignment.
And
lastly,
we
just
talked
a
little
bit
about
the
american
rescue
plan.
But
again
those
are
the
key
takeaways.
We
wanted
to
leave
you
all
in
the
community
with
with
this
particular
budget
work
session,
so
next
slide
beth.
C
So
looking
ahead
to
the
next
set
of
work
sessions
and
dates,
we
do
have
a
work
session
scheduled
for
eight
april
eight
april
13th.
We
anticipate
that
work
session
being
focused
at
least
the
first
part
on
our
capital
improvement
program.
We
haven't
talked
a
whole
lot
or
any
really
so
far
about
our
cip.
C
We
do
anticipate
right
now.
We
would
like
to
bring
fee
any
fee
changes
that
we're
proposing
to
city
council
for
approval
at
their
last
meeting
in
april.
That's
assuming
we
have
those
we
can
schedule
the
finance
committee
meeting
for
early
april
and
have
have
that
group.
Look
at
the
fees
first,
but
we'd
like
to
bring
you
all
the
fees
at
the
end
of
april.
We
typically
do
that
where
we
bring
the
fees
to
council
for
adoption
prior
to
bringing
you
all
the
budget.
That
way.
C
C
B
B
You
started
out
very
early
and
you
you've
been
very
focused
and
we've
just
been
giving
a
lot
of
information
that
you
have
have
processed,
and
you
can
tell
that
obviously
from
the
kinds
of
questions
that
you
all
you
all
asked
so
just
again
wanted
to
say
thank
you
to
to
staff
as
well
and
to
the
consultants
and
appreciate
you
and
see
you
like
in
an
hour
to
move
to
the
council
meeting.
So
thank
you
very
much.