Budget Message / Highlights - Metropolitan Water Reclamation ...

METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT OF GREATER CHICAGO
2009 BUDGET
Budget Message / Highlights
Corporate Fund
The Corporate Fund is the District’s General Fund and includes appropriation requests for all the day-to-day operational costs
anticipated for 2009. The total appropriation for the Corporate Fund in 2009 is $395.0 million, a decrease of $2.2 million, or
0.5 percent from 2008. The major reasons for this decrease include funding for the OPEB trust at the policy level of 2009
($12.0 million), offset by expected increases in facility repairs ($9.4 million).
The 2009 tax levy for the Corporate Fund is $242.0 million, an increase of $2.8 million or 1.2 percent compared to 2008. It is
the District’s intent to maintain the fund balance, or net assets appropriable for the Corporate Fund in the $45 to $55 million
range. This fund balance level balances the competing imperatives of minimizing the annual levy and providing for unexpected
shortfalls in revenues. In order to draw down a high fund balance and achieve the intended level, $69.7 million of the 2008
ending fund balance projected at $90.6 million will be appropriated to fund 2009 expenditures.
Continuing through 2009, economically sensitive non-property tax revenues are expected to decrease based on forecasted local
and national economic indicators.
Property taxes and user charges are the primary funding sources for the District’s Corporate Fund. Illinois law limits the tax
rate of this fund to 41 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation. The estimated tax rate for the Corporate Fund in 2009 is
15.52 cents. User charges are collected from industrial, commercial and non-profit organizations to recover operations,
maintenance and replacement costs proportional to their sewage discharges, in excess of property taxes collected. The major
categories of payers, chemical manufacturers, food processors and government services, are generally expected to maintain
their recent level of discharges.
Capital Program:
Construction Fund and
Capital Improvements Bond Fund
The District’s overall Capital Program includes 2009
project awards, land, support, future projects, and
projects under construction, with a total cost of
approximately $3.4 billion. Capital projects involve the
acquisition, improvement, replacement, remodeling,
completing, altering, constructing and enlarging of
District facilities. Included are all fixtures which are
permanently attached to and made a part of such
structures and non–structural improvements, and which
cannot be removed without in some way impairing the
facility or structure.
Projects under construction have been presented and
authorized in previous Budgets and are recognized in
the Annual Budget as both outstanding liabilities in the
Capital Improvements Bond Fund, and as reappropriations
in the Construction Fund. Future
projects, not yet appropriated, are included in the
Annual Budget to present a comprehensive picture of
the District's Capital program. These future projects
will be requested for appropriation subject to their
priority, design, and available funding.
Overall Capital Improvements Program
(million $)
2009 Project
Awards, $871.4
Future Project
Awards, $1,429.8
Projects Under
Construction,
$911.4
Support and Land
Acquisition,
$181.6
The District utilizes two funds for its Capital program, the Construction Fund and the Capital Improvements Bond Fund. The
Construction Fund is utilized as a “pay as you go” capital rehabilitation and modernization program. Capital projects are
financed by a tax levy sufficient to pay for project costs as they are constructed. As the District replaces, rehabilitates, and
modernizes aged and less effective infrastructure, capital projects are assigned to the Corporate, Construction or Capital
Improvements Bond Fund based on the nature of the project, dollar magnitude and useful life of the improvement. The
Construction Fund is used for operations related projects, where the useful life of the improvement is less than 20 years or
when the values are less than $1 million dollars.
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