§ 13.06. - Each utility a separate enterprise.
The water, wastewater, stormwater, gas and electric utilities shall each be conducted as a separate enterprise, provided that nothing herein shall prevent the transfer of employees from one utility to another or the division of the time of any officer or employee between two or more of such utilities. To facilitate accurate analysis of the financial results of the operation of each utility:
(a) The customer service division shall, as directed by ordinance, bill for and collect on behalf of each utility not only the charges due from domestic, commercial and industrial users of its services but similar charges against the city and each department, board, commission, office and agency thereof, including the school board and each other utility. The rates to be charged for street lighting and for electric current furnished to the city and its departments, boards, commissions, offices and agencies, as well as any political subdivision, shall be fixed by the director of public utilities to generate such revenue as shall enable the utility to make a reasonable return on investment and meet retirement schedules and other debt service requirements in accordance with the provisions of any bond ordinance pursuant to which bonds have been issued to finance capital improvements of such utility and to comply with the terms and conditions of any documents securing any such bonds.
(b) Separate budgets shall be prepared for each utility annually at the time and in the manner prescribed in Chapter 6 of this charter, which shall include estimates of revenue and expense for the ensuing fiscal year. After the budget of a utility has been adopted, should it appear that substantial sales of the unit product of the utility can be made in excess of the sales of the unit product contemplated by the budget which were not reasonably foreseen at the time the estimates of revenue and expense were made, additional expenditures may be authorized by the chief administrative officer from the funds of the utility in an amount not exceeding the estimated cost of producing or purchasing additional units of the product of the utility to be sold upon the justification of such expenditure by and recommendation of the director of public utilities. The chief administrative officer shall report to the council as soon as practicable any such additional expenditures authorized by him/her and shall also report any such additional expenditures to the director of finance, who shall adjust the appropriation accounts accordingly. The expenditure of any other funds of any utility shall be authorized only when an additional appropriation thereof is made in accordance with § 6.16 of this charter. The budget estimates of each department of the city shall include items for gas, water, wastewater, stormwater, and electric current to be used by them. An item for street lighting shall be included in the general fund budget and shall be disbursed by the director of finance on the basis of bills rendered by the customer service division.
(c) The accounting system of each utility shall conform to generally accepted principles of public utility accounting and shall be kept on an accrual basis. Expenditures shall be authorized and made in accordance with appropriations made by the council and in accordance with the provisions of Chapters 6, 8 and 13 of this charter. The records of revenues of each utility shall be kept so that the services rendered to each class of customer according to the rate schedules adopted by the council for each utility can be obtained. After the close of each fiscal year there shall be submitted to the chief administrative officer and the council a report as to the operation of each utility containing at least the following financial statements: (1) a comparative balance sheet showing the financial condition of the utility as of the beginning and close of the fiscal year and an analysis of the surplus account showing the factors of change in the account as reflected by the comparative balance sheet; and (2) a comparative profit and loss statement of the last two fiscal years; and a comparative detailed analysis of operating expense for the last two fiscal years according to functional grouping. The expense of operating each utility shall include: (1) taxes, if any, lawfully accruing during the fiscal year; and (2) except for the stormwater utility, taxes not actually accruing but which would have accrued had the utility not been municipally owned, and such taxes shall be paid annually into the general fund. For the purposes of this chapter all indebtedness of the city incurred on account of each utility shall be considered as the indebtedness of such utility.
(Acts 1954, Ch. 64, § 1; Acts 1982, Ch. 658, § 1; Acts 1988, Ch. 269, § 1; Acts 1993, Ch. 613, § 1; Acts 1994, Ch. 215, § 1; Acts 1998, Ch. 711; Acts 2006, Ch. 650, § 1; Acts 2006, Ch. 712, § 1)
