(Atlantic) On Wednesday, the Atlantic City Council approved the Atlantic Municipal Utilities FY22 Budget Report.
The budget report presented by General Manager Steve Tjepkes and Comptroller Jennifer Saathoff shows no rate increases for electric or water for the fiscal year 2022 budget.
Tjepkes says nationally, wholesale electric prices increased in 2021, as the U.S. economy recovered from the 2020 Covid slow-down. “What is nice this allowed AMU to generate more electricity from our coal plant in Council Bluffs and sell into the wholesale market at higher profit margins,” said Tjepkes.
Tjepkes says with the low-interest rates earned on AMU reserve funds, they will pay off $2,525,000.00 of its remaining electric debt in 2022. “After this payment, both the Electric and Water Departments will be debt-free,” Tjepkes said. “A recent electric rate survey of all 181 electric companies in the state showed only one utility company in Iowa (Muscatine) with lower overall average rates than AMU.”
One year ago, AMU took advantage of a $500,000 CDBG grant to pay a portion of two large water capital improvement projects. One; the completion of a water main underneath Nishnabotna River along Second Street near the wastewater treatment plant providing loop feed to customers west of the Nishnabotna River.
Tjepkes says in 2022, the plan is to refurbish six large filters in the water treatment plant at the cost of $725,000, with CDBG covering $390,000 of the cost. He stated AMU plans to apply for another CDBG grant to help with the cost of replacing an underground storage tank with an above grand tank at an estimated cost of one million dollars.
