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Comments Requested By:
June 15, 2015 

We are pleased to present the Association’s FY 2016 General Fund  and Targeted Action Fund (TAF)  budgets for your review and comment. The FY 2016 budget development process included a thorough review of revenues and expenditures – as well as an assessment of NACWA’s ability to maintain and enhance its delivery of essential services to its members. This Member Update describes key aspects of both budgets and our plans for the 2016 fiscal year (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016). Member comments are invited by June 15, 2015.

Financial Sustainability a Priority

The preliminary FY 2016 General Fund calls for a 4.5% dues increase for all Public Member Agencies. This increase implements the third year of a NACWA Board of Directors-endorsed financial sustainability plan, with the goal of moving away from reliance on the unsustainable practice of voluntary assessments and contributions – and toward an approach that sustains the General Fund and Targeted Action Fund through membership dues. The FY 2016 budget also includes a proposed increase in the cap for the highest Public Agency dues category from $60,000 to $65,000. As a result of these changes, in FY 2016 our smallest Member Agencies will see their dues increase by $70 – and our largest Member Agencies’ dues will increase by $2,700.

The preliminary General Fund budget also reflects a revised and updated dues schedules for all Affiliate Members (Corporate, Legal and Supporting) in FY 2016, in lieu of the 4.5% dues increase. Affiliate dues schedules have been revised to reflect changing conditions in the business environment and to better align with those of our Public Member Agencies, and the high level of benefits provided.

Overall, the preliminary FY 2016 General Fund budget reflects $5.25 million in revenues, $5.28 million in expenses and $35,000 in transfers from other funds resulting in break-even net income. Please see FY 2016 Membership Dues  for a complete listing of dues by category.

Targeted Action Fund Critical to Key Strategic Objectives

As the budgets were developed, attention was also paid to the critical role that the Association’s Targeted Action Fund¹ plays in accomplishing key strategic objectives. In FY 2016, the TAF will continue to support numerous key Association initiatives and programs – bolstering the effectiveness of the Association’s advocacy agenda, maximizing the ability of Member Agencies to collectively conduct and complete initiatives identified as critical by the membership, and offering an incredible return on investment by saving clean water agencies millions of dollars annually in cost savings and avoided costs. Please see TAF Project Overview & Status Report  for additional information on projects and initiatives currently supported by the Fund.

Consistent with the Board-endorsed three-year financial sustainability plan, the proposed FY 2016 Targeted Action Fund (TAF) budget includes $600,000 dues allocation, a $50,000 increase over FY 2015. A portion of this dues allocation ($226,000) will be reallocated from the FY 2016 TAF to the General Fund to support projects historically funded via the TAF, but determined by the Board of Directors to be more appropriately maintained in the General Fund (i.e. General Legal Support; Government Affairs Rapid Response Fund; Legislative Support; Water Infrastructure Network; Federal Water Quality Coalition; and, the Value of Water Coalition). Following this reallocation, the preliminary FY 2016 TAF budget will include $374,000 in revenues, $7,500 in expenses, and $144,183 in estimated FY 2015 unallocated funding carryover, resulting in projected funds available to allocate to additional projects of $510,683.

Budgets Focus on Effective Advocacy & Invaluable Analysis

We continue to focus our energies and efforts on raising the bar on the quality of our advocacy on – and analysis of – evolving and emerging issues, and we have been gratified to see our diverse and dynamic membership grow as a result. Included among the significant operational and financial benefits resulting directly from your membership and engagement in NACWA are the following:

• • • Inclusion in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently finalized Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) jurisdiction rule of the manmade waste treatment exemption along with explicit language that ensures that waters that are part of the wastewater treatment, stormwater treatment (including green infrastructure), or reuse/recycling process are excluded from the federal government’s reach.
    • Improvements to EPA’s proposed dental amalgam rule that will save utilities millions of dollars, in parallel with ongoing efforts to compel the Agency to withdraw the rule, which would ensure utilities are saving tens of millions of dollars.
    • Grant funding to farmers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for priority partnerships focused on improving water quality in line with the language successfully inserted into the Farm Bill by NACWA and the Healthy Waters Coalition.
    • Inclusion of a $13 million program for public clean water agencies to develop integrated plans in EPA’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget proposal.
    • Ensuring the successful implementation of EPA’s integrated planning and affordability/financial capability frameworks in the consent decree context that have saved utilities funds, but also allowed them to redirect spending into preferred technologies and projects with additional benefits.
    • Aggressively protecting the legal viability of municipal stormwater fee programs to ensure clean water agencies have necessary tools to fund their stormwater programs and meet their regulatory obligations.

Active & Diverse Advocacy Agenda Anticipated in FY 2016

NACWA anticipates a dynamic year ahead requiring an active and diverse advocacy agenda in the legislative, regulatory and legal arenas. We will maintain an aggressive focus on evolving issues that are critical to the membership, among them the pursuit of both regulatory prioritization and broader changes in EPA’s approach to financial capability to incorporate a more holistic, prioritization-based approach that looks at a range of indicators. NACWA will continue to leverage EPA’s Integrated Planning Initiative to ensure that the framework is implemented, and that its concepts of local flexibility are more broadly adopted throughout permitting and enforcement programs.

In FY 2016 NACWA will maintain its leadership role in the national debate over the development of numeric nutrient criteria, further strengthening links between agricultural policy and nutrient reduction, and the pursuit of reasonable approaches for the management of sanitary sewer overflows, peak flow blending, remote treatment of peak excess flows, and satellite collection systems. We will continue aggressive advocacy on municipal stormwater issues, including active engagement with EPA as it works to provide technical assistance and incentives to local governments to develop strong stormwater programs.

We will continue to facilitate a collaborative vision for the Water Resources Utility of the Future, as we expand and engage the Congressional Clean Water Caucus – and craft a legislative advocacy agenda that positions and supports Member Agencies as agents of change and transformational leaders. We will engage an array of federal agencies to further the Association’s regulatory advocacy agenda to support enhanced innovation across the water sector on issues including resource recovery, energy efficiency, generation of energy and renewable fuels, and water reuse. We will work, as well, to increase awareness and acceptance of risk associated with innovation through risk-sharing (e.g., public-private partnerships, greater regulatory flexibility) at EPA and among the clean water community.

Lastly, we will defend Member Agency interests in litigation over water quality issues, maintain an active legal presence on wet weather and enforcement issues, and pursue action, as necessary, to protect NACWA member programs and assets on key operational issues. Overall, the organization is committed to exploring new opportunities to collaborate with others in the water sector that share NACWA’s vision and add value to the important work we do on behalf of our members.

Member Comment Invited

Consistent with NACWA’s budget cycle, the Board of Directors encourages all members to review the preliminary FY 2016 General Fund and Targeted Action Fund (TAF) budgets. Please direct any comments you may have to Ray Marshall, NACWA Treasurer and Chair of the Association’s Finance Committee, via phone at 401-461-8848 or via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and NACWA’s Executive Director, Ken Kirk at 202-833-4653, or via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Please provide your comments and recommendations by midnight Eastern Time on Monday, June 15, 2015. All comments received will be carefully considered prior to final action on the FY 2016 budgets when NACWA’s Board of Directors meets in mid-July in Providence, Rhode Island.

As the Association celebrates 45 years of advocacy and service, initiatives throughout the year will support the objective of maintaining NACWA’s strategic position as the driving force in national clean water policy and the leading voice on the water resources utility of the future. As always, our primary focus is on advocacy on behalf of our member’s interests.

This past year we have accomplished many things. Playing a pivotal role in these accomplishments were NACWA’s leadership and members, whose firm decisions and substantial participation lent unquestioned credibility to the Association’s positions and increased attention to its policy goals. Many thanks for your continuing participation and support.

¹NACWA’s Targeted Action Fund, established in 1995, provides dedicated monies to support Board-endorsed initiatives that enhance the Association’s ability to achieve its short and long-term strategic objectives, protect Member Agency interests, and provide benefits to its members in the form of both cost savings and avoided costs.