At its June meeting, Tampa Bay Water’s board of directors approved the agency’s fiscal year 2018 budget with no wholesale rate increase. The 2018 budget maintains a wholesale drinking water rate of $2.56 per 1,000 gallons for the seventh consecutive year.
Tampa Bay Water is projecting a 7.2 million gallon per day increase in regional water demand, 4.4 percent more than 2017. The increased demand provides enough revenue to offset an additional $1.6 million needed for fixed and variable costs due to the increase in demand. The projected water delivery to Tampa Bay Water’s member governments is 172.2 million gallons per day (mgd) annual average. For 2018, the following water sources are targeted on an annual average basis:
The increase in demands also allows the agency to add $4 million to its pay-as-you-go funds that cover capital improvement projects, and renewal and replacement projects. Pay-as-you-go funds reduce the need to issue debt, which saves the agency millions in future interest expense.
The agency is not using any rate stabilization funds for 2018.
Tampa Bay Water’s financial structure is maintained through the sale of water to our member governments. The agency’s capital and operating costs are set at a uniform rate that all six member governments share.
