ERIE COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY 2024 BUDGET APPROVED
Includes $56.9 million for system-wide infrastructure upgrades
BUFFALO, NEW YORK -- The Erie County Water Authority (ECWA) recently approved its 2024 budget and infrastructure investment program. The budget, adopted unanimously by the Board of Commissioners, ensures the continued implementation of ECWA’s 20-year, $1 billion strategic infrastructure investment plan with minimal financial impact on ratepayers.
The 2024 budget increases ECWA’s commodity water rate 38 cents per 1,000 gallons and adds $2.28 to the quarterly Infrastructure Investment Charge (ICC) for ECWA’s more than 163,000 small meter residential customers.
Beginning January 1, residential customers will pay a rate of $4.64 per 1,000 gallons, which equates to an additional $21.28 per year based on median customer consumption of 56,000 gallons annually. The Infrastructure Investment Charge will increase $2.28 per quarter or $9.12 for the year.
The total combined increases will cost ECWA customers about $30.40, or 8.3 cents a day, next year.
According to ECWA Chairman Jerry Schad, the rate increase is the direct result of continued cost increases beyond ECWA’s control.
“We have firmly held the line on spending in next year’s budget,” said Schad. “But just like every household in Western New York is experiencing in this prolonged economic environment, we are faced with substantial increases in costs for equipment, services, supplies and materials required to provide our customers safe, high quality drinking water and reliable service delivery. Unfortunately, those cost increases must be addressed through rates.”
According to ECWA’s Chief Financial Officer Joyce Tomaka, next year’s operating and maintenance expenses increased 9% overall compared to 2023, which accounts for the total of next year’s resulting rate increase. Some of the main cost increases in ECWA’s 2024 budget include:
· $3.7 million for storage tank maintenance and painting
· $2 million for chemicals used in the treatment process, including a 349% increase for chlorine, a 278% increase for caustic soda, and a 92% increase for fluoride
· $800,000 for outside contractors and restoration work
· $230,000 for supplies and materials used for water line maintenance and administrative functions
Tomaka added that most ECWA supplier contracts can no longer be secured for more than one year, further increasing costs and making budgeting for the coming year very challenging.
ECWA’s 2024 budget also includes $56.9 million for system-wide infrastructure upgrades, including:
· $24.6 million for upgrades at the Sturgeon Point and Van De Water Treatment Plants
· $16.8 million for new water transmission and distribution mains throughout ECWA’s system
· $9.9 million for information technology upgrades, enhancements at ECWA’s water quality laboratory, new line maintenance equipment, and general facility upgrades
· $3.1 million for upgrades to major pump stations throughout ECWA’s service territory
· $2.5 million for new remote radio read residential water meters
The 2024 infrastructure upgrades are part of an overall $259 million five-year infrastructure investment plan, which ECWA fully expects to execute through 2028. According to Schad, ECWA will invest an additional $709 million in system-wide infrastructure with a targeted completion in 2040.