Figures represent: FY2003 proposed (in millions) / Change from FY02 budget / Change from FY02 actual
Expenses: $448.6
General: O&M $370.2 / -1.0% / 16.9%
Other operating: $44.3 / 8.0% / -6.4%
Conservation: $22.2 / -22.7% / 15.0%
Support expenses: $11.9 / 28.9% / 26.7% (Mostly administrative)
Transfers out: $380.5
Debt service: $185.9 / 3.0% / 4.3%
Electric CIP: $117.0 / -12.8% / -12.0% (Pay as you go capital projects)
General Fund: $72.9 / 5.7% / 5.7%
Econ. Dev. Fund: $3.5 / -0.3% / -0.3% (Redevelopment Services Office)
Other transfers: $1.2 / 10.4% / 10.4%
Debt Mgmt. Fund: $ 0 / -100.0% / -100.0% (FY02: $7.6 million; Total DMF: $181 million)
Total expenditures: $829.1 / -2.3% / 5.6%
Revenue/transfers in: $815.4 / -2.7% / 4.7%
Beginning balance: $101.5 / -6.0% / -6.0%
Surplus/shortfall: -$13.7 / 23.8% / 112.5%
Ending balance: $87.8 / -9.4% / -13.5%
Austin Energy is, by a wide margin, the city’s largest department, with annual expenditures of close to $830 million — 45% of the total city budget. Only half of that spending goes to actual operations; 22% goes to service AE’s sizable debt, 14% goes to pay-as-you-go capital projects, and more than 9% goes to support the General Fund, as well as to pay for the city’s Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services office. (The AE transfer makes up 16% of the General Fund.) As with the rest of city government, AE’s revenue isn’t covering its expenses (rates haven’t increased in eight years); even after eliminating the transfer of “excess cash” to the Debt Management Fund, AE will dip into its ending balance by nearly $14 million in the proposed FY03 budget, more than double the shortfall expected for this year. This puts AE, at least technically, out of compliance with city financial policies — which say that electric rates should be high enough to cover all of these line items.
This article appears in August 23 • 2002.