Columbus Light and Water’s Board of Commissioners has approved budgeting for nearly $21 million in water and electrical capital improvement projects for next fiscal year.

The cost of those projects will be covered by $1.5 million in expected net income alongside more than $18 million in additional funding sources.

Beyond the budget’s big-ticket item of $6.4 million allocated for repairs and labor for the utility provider’s water meters, the budget’s second-largest capital project is more than $3.3 million in necessary sewer system improvements to several lift stations.

“We worked to create a budget that reflects the things and the goals that we have for this upcoming fiscal year,” Angela Verdell, general manager for CLW, told the board. “This budget is going to be larger than the budgets have been in the past because we have some major capital projects that we’re going to undertake this year.”

More than 11,000 of CLW’s water meters in 2014 were replaced with what were marketed as technologically advanced meters that could offer drive-by radio reads rather than manual readings.

The roughly $3.5 million project was contracted to Utility Meter Services Inc., which handled the costs of the meters and their installation.

Verdell said those meters have slowly deteriorated over the years and are now in need of replacement to help provide more accurate digital readings and to take away the burden of manual readings.

“We’re looking for meters that will give us features to be able to certainly … (improve) detection in terms of water loss that will improve meter reading,” Verdell told The Dispatch. “We know the meters that we have right now are not as accurate as they could be. We’re looking for meters that will allow us for direct submittal of data into our system, and we’re looking for meters that will be compatible with our billing system.”

Verdell said she was unsure how much water is being lost due to damaged or malfunctioning meters.

“Water utilities have water loss numbers, period,” Verdell said. “So it’s just a matter of trying to drill down and to determine where the loss is coming from.”

Verdell said CLW will first bid out the costs of those meters and expects them to land close to the roughly $4.8 million that was approved in the FY 2027 budget.

The remaining costs for the project include $1 million budgeted for labor, and the remaining $600,000 is allocated for meter cover replacements.

Jeff Smith, CLW board attorney, said during the meeting that part of the reasoning behind separately bidding those projects out was to receive competitive bids to lower the potential cost.

Verdell said she hopes to see bids come in by October for the meters themselves and to begin bidding out for installation and the meter caps shortly after to begin installation within the next year.

Beyond the meter project, CLW also budgeted $3.3 million in sewer upgrades, including $2.5 million for renovations at its Caledonia CCP sewer lift station. A bid for $1.3 million of that total project was approved Thursday, and Verdell said work installing new motors and pumps at the station could start as soon as October.

The board approved its FY 27 electrical budget at its regular meeting in June, Verdell said.

CLW expects to receive more than $46 million in electrical sales revenue, with about $45 million of that going to cover expenses for the utility provider.

A projected $1.1 million in net profit will be added to additional sources of funding to give the utility provider $10.4 million in available funds.

The provider will apply $11.8 million to capital expenditures and long-term debt relief, leaving a nearly $1.4 million shortfall, which will be covered by reserves.