The CFPUA Board will hold a public hearing on CFPUA’s proposed fiscal year 2023 (FY23) operating budget at its regular meeting at 9 a.m., Wednesday, May 11. A vote on the budget will follow the public hearing.
The Board meeting and public hearing will be held in the Lucie Harrell Conference Room of the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive.
CFPUA’s proposed budget for FY23 totals $99.2 million. As shown in the summary below, the proposed FY23 budget is $7.1 million, or 7.7 percent, more than FY22’s $92 million adopted budget. This increase is driven mainly by costs related to Chemours’ PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River.
Under the proposed FY23 budget, the average residential customer’s monthly bill for combined water and sewer services would increase by $5.39 for services delivered beginning July 1, 2022. This would mark the first increase in such charges since FY2019.
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Costs associated with measures to address Chemours’ PFAS account for more than 70 percent of the increase in the FY23 budget. PFAS-related costs total almost $8 million in FY23 and include funds to operate new granular activated carbon filters scheduled to come online this summer. These new filters will effectively treat for Chemours’ PFAS, reducing GenX to at or near non-detection.
Other contributors to the amount of the proposed FY23 budget include cost increases from inflation, salary adjustments and related expenditures intended to enhance employee retention and recruitment, and initiatives related to CFPUA’s new Strategic Plan.