HomeMy WebLinkAbout13 Budget Performance Review FYE21AGENDA ITEM #13
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MEETING DATE:March 2, 2022
TO:Board of Directors
FROM:Michael Salmon, CFO
SUBJECT:Budget Performance Report, 2021 Year End
APPROVED BY______________________________
Brian C. Wright, General Manager
RECOMMENDATION:
Accept this report of Budget Performance for 2021 end of year which includes significant
variances identified since the adoption of the budget for 2020 and 2021.
BACKGROUND:
This is a year-end review of the financial results as of December 31, 2021. District code requires
a semiannual review of the budgeted revenues and expenditures compared to actual revenues
and expenditures. This is the fourth of four reviews for the FY20 and FY21 Board approved
Budget.
Staff reviewed the mid-year FY21 budget to actual financial performance in a workshop with the
Board on August 18, 2021. The budget to actual report is a consolidated report of actual activity
for revenues, operational expenses, and capital improvement projects funded by rates and
reserves. The current reporting excludes accrual entries in revenues, depreciation, amortization,
and revenue and expenses associated with contributed capital projects.
Preliminary (audit in progress) FY21 year-end financial summary results are included in
Attachment 1 and Attachment 2. Both the Electric and Water utilities reported positive net
operating inflows. The Electric Utility had net operating inflow of $1.5M. The Water Utility had a
net operating inflow of $O.051M. Attachment 3 provides a report on Reserves and Attachment 4
is a report of Facility Fees.
Electric Utility
Attachment 1 is the preliminary Budget vs. Actual Revenue and Expenditures summary report for
the Electric Utility for FY21. Revenues of $29.0M exceeded budget expectations in FY21 by
$1.4M or 5%. With the pandemic continuing in 2021, energy demand continued in the District, up
compared to budget and last year. Compared to 2020, average billed kWh per day was up 2.7%,
year-end number of customers was up 2.0%, and average kWh per customer per month was up
1.0%. For residential customer types, 2021 compared to 2020; the number of customers
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increased 1.6%, total billed kWh increased 1.2% and average kWh per customer per month
decreased 0.5%.
Operating Expenses for the Electric Utility of $12.8M were $1.5M or 14% over budget
expectations and the key variances summarized by cost center as follows:
Board of Directors - $89,000 / 53% over budget; $66k legal fees and $20k strategic
planning;
General Management - $120,000 / 13% under budget; General Manager position
vacancy half year;
Administrative Services - $156,000 / 11% over budget; $98k personnel changes,
$28k reserve for bad debt allowance increase (YE book entry), 24k/1.5%
miscellaneous net all other variances, and $6k damage claims;
Conservation - $244,000 / 30% under budget; $225k includes position vacancy in
Q1 and pandemic interruptions on rebate programs, $19k renewable power
Stampede under budget;
IT/GIS - $423,000 / 28% under budget; $283k position vacancies (IT Director 11.5
months and the GIS Coordinator 5.0 months) and $140k in expense related
savings;
Building Maintenance - $89,000 / 20% under budget; position vacancy for 6 months;
Electric Operations - $2,179,000 / 36% over budget.
Electric Operations Operating Expenses - Variance Details ($'000s):
Payroll Overhead Vendors Total
Storm Damage (411)(357)(487)(1,255)
Wildfire Mitigation (472)(472)
non-capital payroll (637)(554)(1,191)
position vacancies 412 358 770
all other, net (31)(31)
Variance Totals (636)(553)(990)(2,179)
Storm Damage variance is due primarily the late December storm, which was
declared a state and local emergency event;
Wildfire Mitigation variance is due to board approved $500k increase in expenditure
amount;
Non-Capital payroll variance is due to fewer electric operations personnel time
charged to capital expenditure projects due to pandemic and turnover impacts on
capital projects;
Budget anticipated 18,668 hours charged to capital projects, whereas, actual was
7,689 hours;
Position vacancies variance cost savings partially offsets the previously discussed
non-capital operating cost increase.
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Purchased Power expense of $13.6M for a variance of $645,000 or 5% over budget. The
average cost per MW was 2.9% over budget driving $379k of the variance and the volume of MW
purchased was 2.6% over budget driving $266k of the variance.
Capital Expenditures of the Electric Utility for FY21 invested $3.3M compared to a budget of
$6.5M. The $3.2M of lower expenditures was due primarily to pandemic impact of delayed
execution of planned projects. The Electric Department‘s FY21 Capital Expenditures included:
distribution replacement and improvement projects; the Truckee substation rebuild project, ELF
fuses project, vehicle purchases, and pole replacements. Vehicle purchases in FY21 of $640k
were greater than budget due to pandemic deferral decisions in 2020. The 2021 Budget
approved in fall of 2019 also included $1.2M for new building at corporation yard, which while in
active planning stage, no expenditures for this project were incurred in 2021.
Investment Income of $98k was 75% or $291k less than budget due to 2021 market conditions.
Debt Service of $643,000 was consistent with budget.
Transfers In (Out) net of $2.7M was $573,000 or 18% less than budget; variance details:
$1.704M – lower use of Capital Reserve funds (Budget $1.8M, Actual $68k), due to lower
capital expenditures in 2021;
($0.931M) – greater use of Facility Fee funds, due to timing of Truckee Substation project;
($0.200M) – Greater use of Vehicle Reserve funds, due to timing of vehicle purchases.
Electric Net Operations Funded Cash inflow for FY21 was $1.5M compared to $0 Budget.
Electric Reserve Balances:
In 2021, as budgeted, transfers from the General Fund were made to the Vehicle Reserve
($215,000) and to the Capital Reserve ($257,000), and transfers were made to the
General Fund from AB32 Fund ($1.4M). Other transfers, which varied from budget, are
noted in Transfers In (Out) section above.
In 2021, the Board approved two non-budgeted transfers from the Electric Operating
General Fund, unrelated to 2021 activities discussed above:
o April 2021 - $490,000 to Rate Reserve Fund (based on 2020 results/balances)
o November 2021 - $7,431,000 to Capital Reserve Fund (based on policy change)
The November 2021 transfer utilized forecasted 2021 annual results, and accordingly staff
has no recommended transfers related to 2021 for this report.
Ending reserve balances are within year-end policy target range.
Refer to Attachment 3 Reserve Balances Report for further details.
Water Utility
Attachment 2 is the preliminary Budget vs. Actual Revenue and Expenditures summary report for
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the Water Utility for FY21. Revenues of $15.4M exceeded budget expectations in FY21 by $1.2M
or 9%. The actual average rate of increase of 8.9% as compared to a planned average rate
increase of 3% for FY21 equates to approximately $775,000 of the revenue variance. Demand
was generally consistent with prior year. Customer growth was 1.1% in 2021, total gallons billed
was down 0.7% to 2020 (Residential gallons down 4%, Commercial gallons up 4%), and average
gallons per billing day per customer per month of 270 was down 1%.
Operating Expenses for the Water Utility of $9.9M were in excess of budget by $167,000 or 1.7%.
The key variances summarized by cost center as follows:
Board of Directors - $88,000 / 53% over budget; $66k legal fees and $20k strategic
planning
General Management - $106,000 / 13% under budget; General Manager position vacancy
half year
Administrative Services - $103,000 / 7% over budget; $98k personnel changes, $6k
reserve for bad debt allowance increase (YE book entry), $52k damage claims; partially
offset by 53k/1% miscellaneous net all other variances
Conservation - $24,000 / 23% under budget; $24k position vacancy Q1 and pandemic
impact on rebates
IT/GIS - $113,000 / 15% under budget; $64k position vacancies (IT Director 11.5 months
and the GIS Coordinator 5.0 months) and $49k in expense related savings
Interdepartmental Rent - $0 / 0% on budget at $537,000 for 2021
Water Operations - $219,000 / 4% over budget; with the following notable variances:
o $40,000 / 2% over in payroll direct
o $125,000 / 6% over in payroll overheads (budget 120%, actual 124%)
o $30,000 / na% water utility director recruiting costs, not budgeted
o $47,000 / 4% over in power supply costs with a total of $1.4M
o -$23,000 / 2% net savings in all other vendor expenses to budget
Capital Expenditures of the Water Utility for FY21 invested $2.7M compared to a budget of $2.0M.
The major focus for the Water Utility for Capital Expenditures in FY21 included: the pipeline
replacement project and the SCADA Replacement Project. Vehicle replacements for the Water
Utility in FY21 were deferred due to the pandemic and vehicle fleet assessment.
Investment Income of $34,000 was 67% or $69k less than budget due to 2021 market conditions.
Debt Service of $3,088,000 was consistent with budget, when excluding the early payoff of the
Donner Lake Assessment District (DLAD) SRF loan in July 2021. The DLAD SRF loan payoff
earlier than planned was due to the 2021 maturity of invested DLAD funds from 14 years ago.
The early payoff generated future scheduled loan interest expense savings of $202,000.
Transfers In (Out) net for Water of $313k was $270,000 or 46% less than budget due to no
vehicle purchases for Water in 2021, therefore, the planned $270k transfer funding in from
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vehicle reserves was not required.
Water Net Operations Funded Cash inflow for FY21 was $51,000 compared to $0 budget.
Water Reserve Balances
In 2021, as budgeted, transfers from the General Fund were made to the Vehicle Reserve
of $280,000 and to the Capital Reserve of $1,016,000. Other transfers, which varied from
budget, are noted in Transfers In (Out) section above.
In April 2021, the Board approved the non-budgeted transfer of $1,618,447 from Operating
Reserves to Operating General Fund; as the Operating General Fund serves as the
operating reserve.
The Operating Reserve as of 12/31/2021 of $5.4M is 11% above the policy target of 50%
of budgeted operating expenses which equates to $4.9M. The Capital Reserve as of
12/31/2021 of $1.0M is substantially below the policy target of average annual capital
expenditures, which is currently $3M and forecasted in capital improvement plan to
average $8.8M over the next 10 years. This capital reserve shortfall to policy is
addressed and resolved going forward in the Financial Master Plan approved as part of
the Budget 2022 & 2023 approval.
Staff has no recommended transfers related to 2021 for this report.
Refer to Attachment 3 Reserve Balances Report for further details
Facility Fees
The District establishes and collects facilities fees on new development for electric and water
system improvements attributable to new developments in accordance with the Electric and Water
Master Plans.Attachment 4 reports the status of the restricted Facilities Fees Fund for each
Utility respectively as of the end of FY21. The Electric Utility facilities fee collections in FY21 were
$261K compared to $253K in FY20. The Electric Utility expended $1.0M in expenditures for
facilities fees in FY21, related to the Truckee substation rebuild project, as a budgeted/planned
use of funds in the approved FY20 and FY21 Budget.
The Water Utility facility fee collection in FY21 remained strong with receipts of $784K compared
to $746K in FY20 due to continued development and new construction within the District. The
District utilizes facilities lees for qualifying debt service for the Water Utility on an annual basis. In
FY21 facilities fees of $356K were utilized for the Pipeline COP debt payment, as budgeted.
The District is obligated to utilize facilities fees collected within a 5 year period, and is in
compliance with this requirement.
Accounts Receivable
The pandemic drove a pause in late fees and termination of service for non-payment of billings.
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Customer billings accounts receivable past due 90+ days compares as follows:
12/31/2019 12/31/2020 12/31/2021
Electric $ 6,309 $ 74,075 $ 179,136
Water $ 7,348 $ 36,950 $ 80,802
Total $ 13,657 $ 111,025 $ 259,938
The District’s pandemic relief program has provided bill credits of $85,000 in 2020 and $34,000 in
2021, for a combined total of $119,000 to 383 customers.
The District applied for Federal/California financial relief in fall of 2021 and funds were received in
January 2022. The funds will be distributed as bill credits in Feb/Mar of 2022 to customers. The
relief amount received totals $214,000 ($113,000 Electric and $101,000 Water). This relief is a
2022 transaction, however, the subject is factored in assessing the allowance for bad debt as of
year-end 2021.
The District has reserved $68,000 or 26% of the 90+ balance as an allowance for bad debt
estimate in the year-end 2021 financial statements. This compares to $41,000 / 31% as of
12/31/2020.
This matter is being monitored closely by staff and we will continue to periodically update the
Board.
Budget and Notable Financial Matters
All of the above addresses 2021 performance to 2021 Budget approved in in late fall of 2019. In
late fall 2021, the 2022 and 2023 Budget was approved. Specific to the 2022 and 2023 Budget
there are currently no notable financial matters in variance to the approved budget. Notable
financial matters are updated with each semi-annual performance to budget report to the Board.
1.05.020 Objectives:
1.Responsibly serve the public.
6. Manage the District in an effective, efficient, and fiscally responsible manner.
1.05.030 Goals:
1.1. Conduct the District’s business in a legal, ethical, open, and transparent manner.
6.6. Develop appropriate financial procedures to assure responsible financial management
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is not direct financial impact by means of accepting this report.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – FY21 Budget versus Actual Results, Electric Utility
Attachment 2 – FY21 Budget versus Actual Results, Water Utility
Attachment 3 – FY21 Year End Reserve Balances Report
Attachment 4 – FY21 Year End Facility Fees Balances Report