Nome utility board presses manager over unfinished 2022 audits and blank budget

Nome Joint Utility System board members pressed the utility's manager Thursday to finish audits stalled since 2022 and to fill in a budget that still shows all zeros. Board member Carl Knodel told the manager to hire help rather than do the work himself.

Knodel said the delays reach every ratepayer. "I know for a fact that when you don't pay your bills, any money you want costs more," he said.

As of September, the utility had not finished an audit since 2021, and its manager said then that the delay was probably raising the interest rate on its annual fuel loan. On Thursday the manager said this year's fuel bond, about $8.6 million, is the largest the utility has had. He said the fuel surcharge on power bills will be close to 40 cents, up from 18 cents now, which Knodel said would about double the cost per kilowatt-hour.

Knodel said BDO, the audit firm, is still waiting on information it requested to finish the 2022 audits. A utility staff member who handles finances said nobody had asked her for anything in a while and the last request was filled.

Another board member said the budget figures are still all zeros and that he cannot weigh requests for new equipment without a budget showing where the money would go. The manager said he had been sick and was "calling for help."

The same board member said the utility was threatened this summer with losing Power Cost Equalization money because filings were not turned in. The manager said the utility was not actually off the program: the state held its reimbursement for 10 days. He called that his fault.

The manager said he leaves Friday morning for surgery. He said a consultant the utility has used before will work remotely with staff next week on the budget and is expected to help with the audits in December, probably around the week of Dec. 10.

"You're killing yourself. Just hire somebody," Knodel said. "I mean, it has become an embarrassment."

Board Chair Dave Barron said the board was frustrated but credited staff with progress. He said board members were not saying staff were doing things wrong, but that anyone who needs help has to ask for it.