SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Edited News Release/KY3) – The Board of Public Utilities approved the Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget for City Utilities of Springfield.
The approved budget will be presented to the city council for first reading on Monday, September 9. CU leaders say the city council will receive requests from the Board of Public Utilities to approve a three-year increase in natural gas rates to cover rising capital, operational and material costs of the natural gas system, and approval of a fare decrease for bus transit.
If approved, the requested series of natural gas rate adjustments would begin on October 1, 2025, with a 2.5% rate adjustment with additional adjustments of 3.9% occurring in October 2026 and 2027. With the October 2025 increase, based on average residential usage, customers would see a monthly increase of $1.65 on the natural gas bill. With all increases in place, the additional cost to residential customers is estimated to be approximately $7.40 monthly. In a national comparison of similar-sized benchmark cities, CU has the second lowest monthly cost for residential natural gas customers. The last natural gas rate adjustment occurred in 2019.
Another item approved by the Board and to be taken to the city council in September is a reduction in transit fares for the CU bus system. Following a comprehensive transit optimization study, CU has recommended a 20% reduction in transit fares to improve the affordability of the transit system further. Single-ride adult fares would be $1.00, down from $1.25. All other discounted pass and ticket options will also be reduced at the same rate. Transfers will increase from 10 cents to 25 cents. If approved by the City Council, these new fares will go into effect on October 1, 2024.
“The reliability and integrity of each service we provide is funded separately, and as with other businesses, we have seen supply chain and inflationary issues impact every area of the utility,” said Gary Gibson, City Utilities President – CEO. “It’s necessary that we seek these adjustments to continue providing exceptional services and reliability to our community.”
The approved budget sets the utility’s disbursement authority at $895,437,000. It includes $55 million in contingency funds that could be available in the event of business and fuel pricing volatility and $200 million in contingency for future power supply requirements. The use of contingency funds would require additional approval from the Board of Public Utilities.
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