It is acknowledged that it is a proper public purpose of the state and its political
subdivisions to own, operate, and maintain public utilities in order to ensure the
safe, secure, efficient, and consistent delivery of the necessary public services
associated with the collection, conveyance, and treatment of storm and sanitary sewage;
the pumping, treatment, and distribution of potable water; and, the generation, transmission,
and distribution of electricity. In the provision of said services and the operation
and maintenance of such public utilities, a municipal corporation should act in a
fiscally-responsible and prudent manner to assure that its utilities, and the enterprise
funds accounting for and representing such utilities, are not only operated in a businesslike
manner, but that they do not take undue advantage of their status as tax-exempt entities
to compete with or supplant their private-sector counterparts.
To this end, it is acknowledged by the city that its municipally-owned, public utility
enterprise funds, being the water, sewer, and electric funds, shall hereinafter pay
to the city's general fund an annual service charge-in-lieu-of property taxes in the
amount and manner as set forth in section 106-2 herein.
