Utility Financial Consulting Services

The vendor is required to provide financial planning, budgeting, organizational design, financial technology implementation, and policy development services to better manage its gas, electric, water, wastewater, storm water utilities as well as other fee-based services.
- Retail cost of service analysis
• Analyze and understand the operations of the utilities and the city that use cost of service – gas utility, water utility, wastewater utility, and storm water utility.
• Perform detailed analysis of financial viability to include review of assets, liabilities, equity, current and future capital projects, customer base, volumes, and rates in order to provide recommendations for future rates and rate structures.
• Provide all data requested for retail cost of service analysis.
• Develop materials to communicate department’s rate setting process for the mayor’s office and public stakeholder meetings.
- Wholesale cost of service and rates model
• Analyze and understand wholesale contracts and their impact on utility operations and financial results.
• Develop or maintain and revise, if needed, financial models used to calculate annual cost of service payments for contracts with other counties.
- Financial planning
• Develop or maintain and revise, if needed, financial planning models for gas utility, water utility, wastewater utility, storm water utility, and electric utility.
•Assist departments in the development of annual operating budgets and capital improvement plans (CIP) to maintain reserve balances, customer accounts, billable consumption, and any other information, financial or otherwise.
• Develop forecasts annually for revenue requirements, rates, and customer impacts.
• Analyze and understand existing and planned capital projects; develop capital financing plans; analyze and understand impact on utility operations, existing debt service; and develop projections for future debt service needs.
• Identify and assess opportunities, risks, and threats for capital project investments.
• Recommend operating, investment, or both scenarios to mitigate risks and enhance utility performance.
• Assist departments with monitoring compliance with debt coverage requirements.
• Assist department’s management to identify rate structures and processes to improve customer affordability.
• Prepare documents in the format requested by the city for presentation to city administration and city council; documents may address topics including, but not limited to, rate structure, revenue requirements, capital spending forecasts, funding sources, and affordability.
- Financial policies
•Assist departments in the development of financial policies and monitoring compliance with those policies.
• Develop policies to support compliance with federal, state, and local regulatory requirements.
- Connection fees
• Assist departments in the development of service connection fees for water and wastewater service installations.
- Water loss control
• Develop water audit model to reduce level of uncollected revenue due to unrecognized water consumption.
• Monitor water audit requirements to ensure compliance with state water works association and states environmental protection agency guidelines.
- Integrated planning; support department’s development of an integrated plan through timely financial and economic analyses.
- Public fire protection; prepare cost analysis to assist departments in its development of a fire protection plan.
- Rate and utility support services
• Provide financial information to departments as needed to respond to citizen inquiries on utility rates and payment in lieu of taxes (pilot).
• Support public relations efforts by analyzing data and preparing tables, charts, and other graphics for use in public outreach documents, annual financial reports, strategic plans, and financial assistance documents.
• Assist management in development of best practices, organizational design, public outreach, financial reporting, and decision support for utility financial systems.
•Provide tools for collecting, tracking, and benchmarking of operational, compliance, and financial data for strategic planning and ratemaking justification.
• Provide technical assistance and prepare feasibility studies related to bond sales.
- Metro card program planning and affordability
• Support the continued development of the metro care heating assistance program, metro care water assistance program, and metro care water conservation program, through analyses of internal program processes.
• Support automated application processing, marketing development, and public education and outreach programs to better promote the three metro care programs.
- Affordability programs. Assist departments in the development of customer affordability programs, including defining eligibility criteria, establishing metrics, and creating reporting processes. - Contract Period/Term: 1 year
- Non-Mandatory pre-proposal meeting Date: March 20, 2025