Location: University of North Georgia, Professional & Continuing Education Room #101; 25 Schultz Avenue, Dahlonega, GA 30533

Description: Running a small system can be challenging. Along with meeting regulatory obligations and satisfying customer expectations, you may have issues with aging infrastructure, lack of personnel, and limited financial resources. Furthermore, small systems often cost more to operate per capita than large systems because of economy of scale. In this workshop you will learn financial management and rate setting strategies to help improve your financial sustainability. There will also be a session of funding and financing opportunities in the state of Georgia.

You will learn how to:

• Use financial benchmarks to evaluate your system’s financial performance and plan for financial sustainability
• Understand asset management concepts and techniques for long-term financial performance
• Rate-setting strategies and concepts for zero cost recovery
• Understand how financial sustainability influences access to grant and funding opportunities

Trainers: Melanie Sanchez, Project Director; and Emma Copenhaver, Project Analyst, UNC Environmental Finance Center 

CEs: This course is approved for 6 Management and Safety (MS) points by the Georgia State Board of Examiners for Certification of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators and Laboratory Analysts.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post POSTPONED | GA Training | Managing Your Water System Into the Future first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post POSTPONED | GA Training | Managing Your Water System Into the Future appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop rate-setting and benchmarking objectives
• Determine the cost of providing water service
• Anticipate changes in revenues year-to-year by changes in use
• Measure the affordability of rates for all of your customers
• Learning how to communicate with Board Members

Trainer: Anna Patterson, Project Director, UNC Environmental Finance Center 

CEUs: This training has been approved for 2.0 continuing education credit hours for water and wastewater operators by the TCEQ.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post TX Online Training | Setting the Right Rates for your System first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post TX Online Training | Setting the Right Rates for your System appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop rate-setting objectives
• Determine the cost of providing water service
• Anticipate changes in revenues year-to-year by changes in use
• Measure the affordability of rates for all of your customers
• Create rate structures that reflect your rate-setting objectives
• Understand how to calculate and use financial benchmarks to assess the fiscal health of your system

Trainer: Anna Patterson, Project Director; and Alicea Easthope-Frazer, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

Cost: Complimentary.

Continuing Education Units: This course has been pre-approved for 6.0 TCHs for Water and Wastewater Operators by Vermont DEC. 

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post VT Training | Setting the Right Rates for Your System first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post VT Training | Setting the Right Rates for Your System appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Trainer: Hope Thomson, Project Director; and Alicea Easthope-Frazer, Project Director, UNC Environmental Finance Center 

CEs: This workshop has been approved for 2.0 Continuing Education Hours (CEs) for Maryland superintendents.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water or wastewater systems
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post MD Online Training | Systems Operations and Rate Setting for Elected Officials first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post MD Online Training | Systems Operations and Rate Setting for Elected Officials appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: Creating customer classes can be an effective method of allocating the cost of service to different types of users. Utilities often use customer classes to meet their various rate-setting objectives, such as prioritizing revenue stability and ensuring affordability. However, it can be difficult to determine why and how to charge customers different rates. In this webinar, we’ll discuss reasons for including customer classes in your utility’s rate structure, how to make data-driven decisions about what those varying rates should be, and practical and legal considerations for creating customer classes.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how rate setting objective influence the creation of customer classes
• Understand the different possibilities for defining customer classes
• Identify how to determine rates for different customer classes
• Understand best practices for creating customer classes

Presenter: Hope Thomson, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina

Cost: Complimentary.

Please Note: This webinar has NOT been submitted for approval of continuing education credit. We can provide a certificate of attendance to eligible attendees, but cannot guarantee it will meet your PDH or CEU requirements. 

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people
• Decision-makers for water utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water systems

Partners: 

The post Webinar | Customer Classes: Why and How to Charge Customers Different Rates first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post Webinar | Customer Classes: Why and How to Charge Customers Different Rates appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

You will learn how to:  

• Incorporate good financial practices into setting a budget
• Calculate and interpret basic financial benchmarks
• How to plan for current and future capital investment needs

Trainer: Anna Patterson, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina

CEUs: Approved for 1.0 Training Credit for NM Water & Wastewater Utility Operators.

Partners: 

The post NM Online Training | Financial Management and Benchmarking for Small Wastewater Systems first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post NM Online Training | Financial Management and Benchmarking for Small Wastewater Systems appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: Water and wastewater systems have a variety of priorities that proper rate setting can help achieve. In this workshop we will explore how small water and wastewater systems can structure rates and price water and wastewater to recover the full cost of providing service today and into the future. In this workshop we will also examine how rate setting can help systems meet multiple objectives and learn to assess the affordability of utility service to the low-income customer. Finally, we will learn how to calculate financial metrics and use them to assess your system’s fiscal health.

Leaning Objectives:

• Develop rate setting objectives
• Determine the cost of providing water service
• Anticipate changes in revenues year-to-year by changes in use
• Measure the affordability of rates for all of your customers
• Create rate structures that reflect your rate setting objectives
• Understand how to calculate and use financial benchmarks to assess the fiscal health of your system

Trainer: Evan Kirk, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at UNC-Chapel Hill

Cost: Complimentary.

Continuing Education Units: Approved for 6.5 TCHs for Water Operators and 5.5 TCHs for VT Wastewater Operators by VT DEC.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post VT Training | Setting the Right Rates for Your System first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post VT Training | Setting the Right Rates for Your System appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

• Learn how to use four benchmarking dials (rates comparison, conservation pricing signal, affordability, and cost recovery) to improve utility financial decision-making
• Learn how to make meaningful comparisons between utilities based on system characteristics, customer demographics, and geography

Trainer: Evan Liebgott, Research Assistant, Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina

Certificate: This training is NOT pre-approved for Continuing Education Credit, but attendees will receive a certificate of attendance for their personal record. 

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people
• Decision-makers for water utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water systems

Partners:

The post WV Online Training | Introducing the West Virginia Water Rates Dashboard first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post WV Online Training | Introducing the West Virginia Water Rates Dashboard appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: Water and wastewater systems have a variety of priorities that proper rate setting can help achieve. In this workshop we will explore how small water and wastewater systems can structure rates and price water and wastewater to recover the full cost of providing service today and into the future. In this workshop we will also examine how rate setting can help systems meet multiple objectives and learn to assess the affordability of utility service to the low-income customer. Finally, we will learn how to calculate financial metrics and use them to assess your system’s fiscal health.

Leaning Objectives:

• Develop rate setting objectives
• Determine the cost of providing water service
• Anticipate changes in revenues year-to-year by changes in use
• Measure the affordability of rates for all of your customers
• Create rate structures that reflect your rate setting objectives
• Understand how to calculate and use financial benchmarks to assess the fiscal health of your system

Trainer: Evan Kirk, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at UNC-Chapel Hill

Cost: Complimentary.

Continuing Education Units: Approved for 6 Training Contact Hours by NHDES DWGB for Drinking Water Operators.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post NH Training | Setting the Right Rates for Your System first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post NH Training | Setting the Right Rates for Your System appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: This workshop will help ensure the financial stability of your water system while providing safe, quality drinking water at fair rates. We will focus on how systems can select rate setting objectives and match those with appropriate rate structures. This workshop is designed for water systems serving 10,000 or fewer people, especially targeting local government systems facing financial challenges. Information will be shared in lecture format, through interactive exercises, sharing of case examples, and by soliciting and answering participant system-specific questions.

Leaning Objectives:

• Develop rate setting objectives
• Determine the cost of providing wastewater service
• Anticipate changes in revenues year-to-year by changes in use
• Measure the affordability of rates for all of your customers
• Create rate structures that reflect your rate setting objectives

Trainer: Andrew Waters, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at UNC – Chapel Hill

Cost: Free

Continuing Education Units: Those who attend will receive a Certificate of Attendance that they may self-submit for Continuing Education Credit.

Please Note: Lunch will not be provided and is the responsibility of attendees.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people
• Decision-makers for water utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water systems

Partners:

The post VA Training | Setting the Right Rates for Small Drinking Water Systems first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post VA Training | Setting the Right Rates for Small Drinking Water Systems appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.