Managing Member Dollars
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The budget is one of Community Water’s most important planning tools. It shows how member dollars support daily water service, long-term infrastructure, regulatory compliance, and water reliability.
Each year, staff prepares an operating budget and a capital budget for Board review and approval. The operating budget pays for the daily work required to deliver water. This includes power for wells and booster pumps, treatment chemicals, water testing, employee wages, customer service, insurance, regulatory costs, and routine maintenance.
The capital budget pays for larger projects that keep the system reliable over time. These projects may include new wells, well rehabilitation, tank repairs, pump replacements, treatment upgrades, technology improvements, and replacement of aging water mains. Recent capital needs include additional well capacity and ongoing replacement of older mains that have reached the point where repair alone is no longer the best long-term answer.
Most revenue comes from water service charges paid by members. For larger projects, Community Water may use reserves, debt financing, or a combination of both. The budget helps the Board decide how much should come from current rates, how much from savings, and when borrowing is the better long-term choice.
Community Water must balance today’s affordability with tomorrow’s reliability. The Company cannot run long-term deficits and still maintain a dependable water system. A balanced budget helps protect the utility, supports financial stability, and reduces the risk of sudden emergency spending.
Strategic needs guide budget priorities. If a well declines, a pump reaches the end of its useful life, or an older main becomes unreliable, the budget must respond. If an emergency repair uses reserves, the Board and staff must decide how to rebuild those reserves and keep projects on track.
Community Water’s goal is to keep rates as stable and predictable as possible while funding the work required to maintain reliable service. As wells, mains, pumps, reservoirs, treatment systems, and technology age, the need for infrastructure replacement increases. Regular financial reviews help the Company plan investments before problems become more expensive to address.
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Managing Member Dollars
Where does your water payment go? Learn how Community Water balances daily operating expenses, infrastructure investment, reserves, debt, and future needs while working to maintain reliable service and stable, predictable rates. Read more...
The budget is one of Community Water’s most important planning tools. It shows how member dollars support daily water service, long-term infrastructure, regulatory compliance, and water reliability.
Each year, staff prepares an operating budget and a capital budget for Board review and approval. The operating budget pays for the daily work required to deliver water. This includes power for wells and booster pumps, treatment chemicals, water testing, employee wages, customer service, insurance, regulatory costs, and routine maintenance.
The capital budget pays for larger projects that keep the system reliable over time. These projects may include new wells, well rehabilitation, tank repairs, pump replacements, treatment upgrades, technology improvements, and replacement of aging water mains. Recent capital needs include additional well capacity and ongoing replacement of older mains that have reached the point where repair alone is no longer the best long-term answer.
Most revenue comes from water service charges paid by members. For larger projects, Community Water may use reserves, debt financing, or a combination of both. The budget helps the Board decide how much should come from current rates, how much from savings, and when borrowing is the better long-term choice.
Community Water must balance today’s affordability with tomorrow’s reliability. The Company cannot run long-term deficits and still maintain a dependable water system. A balanced budget helps protect the utility, supports financial stability, and reduces the risk of sudden emergency spending.
Strategic needs guide budget priorities. If a well declines, a pump reaches the end of its useful life, or an older main becomes unreliable, the budget must respond. If an emergency repair uses reserves, the Board and staff must decide how to rebuild those reserves and keep projects on track.
Community Water’s goal is to keep rates as stable and predictable as possible while funding the work required to maintain reliable service. As wells, mains, pumps, reservoirs, treatment systems, and technology age, the need for infrastructure replacement increases. Regular financial reviews help the Company plan investments before problems become more expensive to address.
The ACC Rate Case Process
Membership comes with important rights and protections. Learn about water service, billing questions, complaints, new service, Board elections, and where to turn when you need help or have concerns about your service. Read more...
Rates fund water service. Setting rates is a formal process involving the Arizona Corporation Commission. When Community Water needs to cover rising operating costs, capital investment, debt service, or reserve needs, the Company files a rate case. The filing explains the costs of providing service and proposes rates for ACC review.
Community Water has worked to keep rates stable and affordable. As the system ages and costs change, rate planning must reflect the work required to maintain reliable water service. In a rate case, the Company explains why revenue is needed for labor, treatment, power, infrastructure replacement, debt, reserves, and regulatory compliance.
The ACC process is public and includes review by Commission staff, written information, public hearings, and a final order approving or modifying rates. Members can comment or participate as allowed by ACC rules.
Approved rates reflect the cost of providing regulated water service. Current rates are posted on the Company’s website. They typically include a fixed monthly availability charge that supports basic system readiness and a commodity charge based on water use. Understanding rates helps members see how water use affects bills and why steady revenue supports reliable service.
Capital Reserves and Infrastructure Investment
Major water infrastructure can cost millions and last for decades. Learn why Community Water builds reserves, plans replacements, and sometimes uses financing to prepare for large investments before aging equipment becomes an emergency. Read more...
Water systems become less reliable when utilities wait too long to replace wells, tanks, pumps, treatment equipment, and pipes. Capital reserves help the Community Water plan for those costs before emergencies happen.
Community Water maintains reserves to support infrastructure replacement and reduce the need for sudden financial corrections. When replacing major infrastructure, the Board decides how much to fund from reserves and how much to finance through borrowing. Building reserves over time helps the Company avoid being unprepared when essential equipment fails.
The strategic plan and Water System Improvement Plan identify what needs to be replaced and when. Many parts of the system are decades old. A capital improvement schedule helps the Community Water plan replacements, treatment upgrades, new pumps, main replacements, and technology improvements over time.
Debt financing also has a role. Long-lived assets often serve current and future members, so financing can help spread costs across the people who benefit from the system. The key is balancing today’s bills with tomorrow’s needs.
Capital reserves do not eliminate rate pressure, but they improve financial stability. They help Community Water respond to emergencies, plan major work, and reduce the risk that one large project will disrupt the utility’s financial position.
Annual Financial Report
Community Water’s finances receive an independent annual review. Learn what audited financial statements reveal about operating costs, capital investments, debt, reserves, and the Company’s ability to support reliable water service over time. Read more...
Each year, an independent auditor reviews Community Water’s financial records and issues audited financial statements. The Company posts those statements on its website, shares key financial information with members, and presents financial results at the annual membership meeting.
The financial statements show how the Company manages operating costs, capital investments, debt, reserves, and long-term obligations. They help members see that Community Water is not operating to generate profit for outside investors. The Company is working to generate sufficient revenue to operate the system, maintain infrastructure, meet regulatory requirements, pay debt obligations, and plan for future needs.
Audited financial reports support accountability. They give members a clear view of the Company’s financial condition and help show whether Community Water has the resources needed to support reliable water service over the long term.
Understanding Our Regulatory Relationship
Community Water is locally governed but also regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission. Learn what the ACC oversees, when its approval is required, and how regulation provides members with another layer of accountability. Read more...
The Arizona Corporation Commission regulates Community Water as a public service corporation. This means the ACC approves rates, reviews certain financial practices, and enforces service standards.
When Community Water proposes a new rate schedule or seeks certain financing approvals, ACC rules require the Company to justify investments, expenses, and accounting practices. ACC staff may review filings, ask questions, or suggest changes. Only after the ACC issues an order do new rates take effect.
This oversight supports accountability, but it also adds costs. Community Water may need consultants, attorneys, engineers, auditors, or other experts to prepare filings and respond to regulatory requirements. Those costs are part of operating a regulated utility.
The ACC review helps ensure costs are tied to regulated utility service. Day-to-day operations are managed by Community Water’s Board, management, and staff, while major regulatory matters such as rate changes, financing, or service area changes require ACC involvement.
Regulation gives members another layer of review. It supports fair rates, reliable service, and accountability beyond the Company’s internal governance.
ADEQ, US EPA, and Safe Drinking Water
Multiple agencies help oversee drinking water safety. Learn how Community Water works within federal, state, and county requirements for testing, reporting, inspections, and compliance—and what those protections mean for members. Read more...
Water quality is regulated by county, state, and federal agencies. Pima County regulators and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality enforce drinking water rules under the oversight of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. These agencies set or enforce standards, review and monitor, and conduct system inspections.
Compliance requires regular testing and reporting. Community Water submits water quality data to regulators and maintains records showing whether delivered water meets applicable standards. If a federal or state rule changes, such as a new requirement for PFAS or lead-and-copper monitoring, the Company must evaluate the rule and respond as required.
For members, this means water quality is reviewed through multiple layers: utility testing, laboratory analysis, state and county oversight, federal standards, and public reporting. Community Water shares required water quality information through its annual Water Quality Report and other notices when required.
These rules help protect public health and guide utility operations. Compliance costs money, but it also helps ensure the water system remains licensed, monitored, and accountable.