HomeMy WebLinkAbout047 - 04/20/2021 - APPROPRIATING PRIOR YEAR RESERVES IN THE LIGHT AND POWER FUND FOR ELECTRIC UTILITIES CUSTOMER PAYMEN ORDINANCE NO. 047, 2021
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
APPROPRIATING PRIOR YEAR RESERVES IN THE LIGHT AND POWER FUND
FOR ELECTRIC UTILITIES CUSTOMER PAYMENT ASSISTANCE
WHEREAS, in December 2020, Platte River Power Authority (PRPA), the municipal
electric power generation and transmission authority of which the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland
and Longmont, and the Town of Estes Park are members, issued an unanticipated "one-time cash
distribution"to the City (the "PRPA funds"),pursuant to PRPA Board Resolution 15-20; and
WHEREAS, the PRPA funds, in the amount of$468,941, were deposited in the Light &
Power enterprise fund, to be used, pursuant to Art. XII, §6 of the City Charter, for electric utility
operations, maintenance, repair, replacement or betterment or for another specific utility purpose
determined by Council to benefit the electric utility's ratepayers; and
WHEREAS, since March 2020, conditions associated with the Coronavirus/COVID-19
pandemic resulted in significant increases in City utility customer bill delinquencies resulting in
significant past-due balances of a magnitude not normally experienced by the Electric utility,only
a portion of which was mitigated by the Utilities Payment Assistance Program(PAF), pursuant to
City Code §26-722, and federal relief funds in 2020, including the CARES Act, and
WHEREAS, despite $900,000 of financial assistance Utilities applied to assist customers
who struggled to pay utility bills in 2020, large utility account balances persist and availability of
PAF and federal stimulus funds is uncertain, which led Utilities staff to evaluate other financial
resources to help customers who incurred past due balances in the past ten months and seek to
reduce outstanding amounts due to the utility to avoid adverse impacts on all utility ratepayers in
the form of increased rates; and
WHEREAS,Utilities staff research concluded that using the PRPA funds in addition to the
City's ongoing commitment to establish utility customers payment plans will meaningfully direct
assistance to the most impacted Utilities customers. leverage PAF resource opportunities and
recover significant outstanding amounts due to the electric utility thereby benefitting all
ratepayers; and
WHEREAS, Utilities staff has recommended appropriating the PRPA funds to be
administered through the application process used for CARES Act distribution in 2020, including
tracking dispersals and customer impact, to ensure the PRPA funds bolster payment plan options
for customers experiencing economic hardship due to COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, the City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein and
has determined this appropriation is available and previously unappropriated from the Light &
Power Fund and will not cause the total amount appropriated in the Fund to exceed the current
estimate of actual and anticipated revenues to be received in that Fund during this fiscal year; and
WHEREAS, Article V, §9 of the City Charter permits the City Council, upon the
recommendation of the City Manager, to appropriate by ordinance at any time during the fiscal
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year such funds for expenditure as may be available from reserves accumulated in prior years,
notwithstanding that such reserves were not previously appropriated; and
WHEREAS,the proposed appropriation and expenditure benefit the public's health, safety
and welfare and serve utility rate payers by providing focused funding to enable customers to
continue receiving reliable, high-quality electric and telecommunications, water, wastewater, and
stormwater services, increase collections and reduce billing operation expenses for utility rate
payers consistent with the purposes of Article XII, §6 of the City Charter.
NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT
COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and
findings contained in the recitals set forth above.
Section 2. That there is hereby appropriated from prior year reserves in the Light &
Power Fund the sum of FOUR HUNDRED SIXTY-EIGHT THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED
FORTY-ONE DOLLARS ($468,941) for expenditure from the Light& Power Fund for payment
assistance to electric and telecommunication services customers.
Section 3. That the City Council hereby finds that this use of the PRPA funds will
serve the specific utility purposes of reducing the unusually high levels un-paid amounts due to
the utility driven by the COVIDI9 pandemic, avoiding adverse impacts on all utility ratepayers in
the form of increased rates, and enabling utility customers to continue receiving reliable, high-
quality electric services, which Council determines will benefit the electric utility's ratepayers as
required by Article XII, §6 of the City Charter.
Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 16th day of
March, A.D. 2021, and to be presented for final passage on the 20th day of April, A.D. 2021.
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Passed and adopted on final reading on the 20th day of April, A.D. 2021.
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