Amador County – Amador Water Agency candidates participated in a forum for the upcoming Nov. 2 general election Monday, with much talk on the Gravity Supply Line project.

The AWA approved the project for a funding application in March, on a 3-2 vote with President Bill Condrashoff and Vice President Debbie Dunn against.

Paul Molinelli Senior asked the crowd how many of them lived in District 3, and if they supported the GSL. He counted a slight majority in favor.

During public questions, Thornton Consolo of Jackson asked who would pay for the GSL in a 40-year loan.

Dunn said the Amador Water System gave a living example of how developers planned to pay for the Amador Transmission Pipeline. All three dissolved, and “those people now are funding it 100 percent.” She said there is no growth, and the GSL is too big for needs.

Robert Manassero said: “You can’t vote ‘no’ forever,” and called Dunn and Condrashoff’s “no” votes “a quick fix.” He said: “Is it oversized, or do we build it just for the needs right now?”

Manassero said they should let engineers do their work, and with construction costs subsiding, the $13 million estimate could be a high figure. He said yes, it will be paid for by ratepayers, but they need to continue study on the project, and look to reduce costs.

Condrashoff said the GSL is a “major issue” for the Central Amador Water Project service area, but: “I’m with Debbie” on opposing the project’s size. He said the Amador Transmission Pipeline “was built for three times the need” and triple the current capacity. And it left the AWA with a “$1.5 million mortgage.”

Molinelli agreed with Condrashoff and Manassero. He said the GSL “may be too expensive, but it’s worth looking at,” and a gravity-fed water supply is the best for fire fighting because it doesn’t rely on electrical power.

Dale Turner said future users and developers would fund the GSL, and the agency should work to get some of the $5 million it is owed in fees. He said the “GSL will last for at least 25 years,” and “the difference in cost is minimal between the size Bill wants and its design.”

Turner said as mayor of Livermore, he saw the city build a $21 million sewer treatment plant to meet needs five years out. Now Livermore faces a $100 million price to increase the plant’s size. He said: “Sometimes being a cheapskate doesn’t pay.”

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Amador County – Candidates for the Amador Water Agency board discussed Upcountry issues at a forum Monday, including whether to repair and replace the Tiger Creek pipeline or build a Gravity Supply Line.

In public comment, Dutch Green asked candidates to address the cost to completely replace the Tiger Creek pipeline, which delivers water to the Buckhorn water plant and customers of the Central Amador Water Project service area.

John Asmus said if there is a good operation and maintenance analysis of the Tiger Creek pipeline, he has not seen it, and he would like to see what it would cost to get a 25 percent increase out of the pumps.

Dale Turner said it would take $4 million to bring the Tiger Creek pipeline up to par, with no grants and no loans.

Bill Condrashoff said “it’s not an either or” situation, because if they build the GSL, the agency still must keep up the Tiger Creek pipeline and pumps, because the GSL will be down six weeks a year for servicing of the reservoir.

Robert Manassero said the 1978 Central Amador Water Project pipeline was put in as a temporary system in 1978, and it costs about $20,000 a year to service. He said: “You can’t put $4 million into the pumps on a 38-year-old line.”

He said “obviously, down hill, gravity is better,” and “a $5 million grant is better” than a $4 million pump repair project with no grants.

Debbie Dunn said “the pumps go forever, and the pipe itself, bare minimum, has 10 more years of life left.” She said there are no loans or grants because the agency “didn’t look for them.”

Art Toy said replacing the pumps was looked into, and the agency decided to pursue the GSL. He said they should keep pursuing the GSL, unless they want to throw away $1 million already spent on the project.

Asmus said unless there is a tremendous need for capacity, he supported operation and maintenance to “make it better.”

Turner said the project could save about $375,000 a year in PG&E costs. He said: “We have no backup system now,” and the “ideal plan would be to build the GSL and keep the existing pipeline running,” because “if it is not running 100 percent every day,” it will prolong the system’s life.

Condrashoff said it actually would save about $150,000 in PG&E electric costs when using the GSL instead of the Tiger Creek pipeline’s pumps, with about $100,000 lost annually on “power foregone.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Washington, D.C. - Many small business owners and a number of lawmakers in Congress have galvanized around efforts to repeal an expansion of Form 1099 tax reporting included in the new health care bill.

According to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, “The changes will force millions of businesses to issue hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of additional IRS Form 1099s every year.” In other words, it would require businesses of all sizes to track all spending, from electric bills to property purchases, and send 1099 forms to all those providers. The Cato Institute calls it an attempt “to raise revenue for an increasingly rapacious Congress.”

As a result, alarmed businesses have pushed their congressional representatives in recent months to amend or repeal that part of the healthcare bill- so far with no success.

Recent amendments that died in the Senate in September were sponsored by Senators Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska) and Bill Nelson (D-Florida). Johanns would have repealed Section 9006 entirely, paying for it with cuts to spending from a new public health fund, while Nelson proposed scaling back reporting requirement to total purchases of more than $5,000 per year and excluding companies with fewer than 25 employees.

Other amendments have also been proposed or are in the works.

The Obama Administration reportedly supports amending the section in some form, but does not support a full appeal.

Section 9006 is slated to go into effect for payments made after Dec. 31, 2011, requiring businesses to get a head start on record keeping.

“Businesses would have to report almost every transaction to another business during the course of a year,” says Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business, in an interview with Compliance Week. His group is part of a coalition of more than 120 organizations calling for the provision’s repeal. “This will basically turn every small business owner in the country into an accountant,” he said.

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Amador County - Cooler weather and recent rains allowed the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to lift the burn suspension for our region on Monday, Oct. 11 at 8 am.

This began the transition toward the “winter preparedness level” in the Amador-El Dorado-Sacramento-Alpine Unit, or AEU. This transition allows AEU to release some seasonal firefighters, reduce staffing on fire engines and eventually close some remote wildland fire stations over the following weeks. However, CAL FIRE is always prepared to call resources back if fire weather conditions dictate.

The Air Quality Management Districts will be determining “burn days” or “no burn days.”

“We were very lucky this year with the uncharacteristically mild summer temperatures throughout the state,” said AEU Chief Bill Holmes. “We had anticipated a very dynamic fire season due to the large amount of fuel left on the ground from the December 2009 snow storm. In some places, there is as much as 33 percent more fuel on the ground than last year because of this storm and we are encouraging everyone to do their part by continuing to clean up their properties with the goal of creating defensible space around their homes.”

For more information on defensible space, burning safely and other fire prevention topics, visit www.fire.ca.gov.

To check on burn status and burn permit requirements, call the burn information line immediately prior to burning. You can also call Amador County’s burn information line at 223-6246.

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