During the Fall of each year, North City Water District reviews our financial status in order to develop our annual budget for the upcoming year.
Copies of the budget presentation (and previous years’ presentations) are available here on our website; an explanation of the forecasted 2024 budget is presented below:
2024 Projected Revenues
Single Family Service Revenue
$5,934,705
(68% of our total revenue)
The bulk of the District’s revenue.
Non-Single Family Service Revenue
$2,022,775
(23% of our total revenue)
Non-Single-Family Service Revenue from duplexes, apartments and condominiums, businesses, schools, and other government institutions.
Other Revenues
$519,556
(6% of our total revenue)
Other revenues include interest, late fees, antenna rents and hook-up fees.
IRR Service Revenue
$137,461
(2% of our total revenue)
Irrigation Revenue (IRR) from customers with separate irrigation meters.
Fire Lines Service Revenue
$70,885
(1% of our total revenue)
Revenue from separate Fire Line (FL) meters that customers pay to have available in the event of a fire.
2024 Projected Expenses
Employee Costs
$2,151,818
(26% of our total costs)
Employee salaries, benefits, training, travel, uniforms,
and testing.
Purchased Water and Power
$1,561,190
(18% of our total costs)
What we pay to Seattle Public Utilities as the source of our water, as well as the electricity required to run our facilities.
Operations & Maintenance, Admin, and Customer Service
$1,535,839
(17% of our total costs)
Costs of Operations and Maintenance (O&M), Administrative, and Customer Service include legal services, insurance, billing supplies, outside engineering services, vehicle maintenance, water meter maintenance, and repairing water main breaks.
Capital Transfer Costs
$1,200,000
(13% of our total costs)
Annual contribution to capital projects.
Debt Service
$1,076,937
(12% of our total costs)
The cost of repaying bonds and drinking water state revolving fund loans.
Taxes and Franchise Fees
$968,076
(11% of our total costs)
What we pay to the Cities of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park for providing water service to a portion of their residents.
Other Transfer Costs
$142,000
(2% of our total costs)
Annual contribution for vehicle replacement and irregularly occurring activities.
One of the unintended consequences of conserving water is the impact it can have on District finances. Given that 92% of the District’s revenue comes from water use, decreased consumption can create a revenue shortfall. The District closely monitors and identifies necessary adjustments to avoid overspending—particularly given the ever-rising costs of operations and system maintenance.
The most logical way to balance the 2024 budget was to modify the timing of upcoming capital expenditures. We would need to do a number of capital projects next year and the following year, but will not start on new projects until we finalize our current projects.
We prefer to make small, annual, incremental rate increases rather than waiting as long as possible to make large rate increases, in order to make your water bills as predictable as possible. In light of all of these factors in 2023, our adopted 2024 budget will include a 4% rate increase. Please give us a call at 206.362.8100 if you have any questions.
Please give us a call at 206.362.8100 if you have any questions.