Amador County – Amador Water Agency board of directors received a quarterly budget review last week, seeing reductions in expected revenue. General Manager Gene Mancebo said “the cooler weather has affected revenue.” Finance Manager Mike Lee’s report for the quarter ending June 30th showed net capital revenue was $6.7 million, down 8.4 percent from last year, while operating expenses were down $1.2 million, or 74 percent since last year. Lee said “operating salaries and benefits were above budget” because the “salary budget was reduced $200,000,” and “capital salaries were down significantly.” Board President Bill Condrashoff asked why salaries were only down 4.45 percent over last year, after staff was cut by 25 percent. Lee said the agency “reduced the salary budget by $200,000,” the equivalent of four positions. Condrashoff said Amador Water System salaries and benefits were $200,000 over budget, asking why it was “so far over” in “just one system.” Director Gary Thomas said it was also the agency’s largest system, and cuts were only for part of the year, with some employees leaving at mid-year, in December or January. Mancebo said some position vacancies were spread throughout the year, and early retirements also were spread out. Director Terence Moore said the reductions likely would show more at the end of this budget year. Director Don Cooper said he thought they “considered this” when they did the current budget. Mancebo said there is a difference in the rates for capital project salaries, such as work at Gayla Manor, and operation and maintenance salaries, such as pipeline repairs. He said they could make projections for salaries for specific employees, such as capital or O&M work, and break down every project into tasks per employee. But if actual work did not happen that way, it would not match the budget. Mancebo said the agency is looking at using a different format, and different software. Lee said “we don’t have the budget software wherewithal” to give more explicit detail, and buying new budget software would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said he uses an Excel spreadsheet to combine the nine different systems, which end up in the budget report with attachments of 25 different worksheets. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.-
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Amador County – Amador Water Agency board of directors received a quarterly budget review last week, seeing reductions in expected revenue. General Manager Gene Mancebo said “the cooler weather has affected revenue.” Finance Manager Mike Lee’s report for the quarter ending June 30th showed net capital revenue was $6.7 million, down 8.4 percent from last year, while operating expenses were down $1.2 million, or 74 percent since last year. Lee said “operating salaries and benefits were above budget” because the “salary budget was reduced $200,000,” and “capital salaries were down significantly.” Board President Bill Condrashoff asked why salaries were only down 4.45 percent over last year, after staff was cut by 25 percent. Lee said the agency “reduced the salary budget by $200,000,” the equivalent of four positions. Condrashoff said Amador Water System salaries and benefits were $200,000 over budget, asking why it was “so far over” in “just one system.” Director Gary Thomas said it was also the agency’s largest system, and cuts were only for part of the year, with some employees leaving at mid-year, in December or January. Mancebo said some position vacancies were spread throughout the year, and early retirements also were spread out. Director Terence Moore said the reductions likely would show more at the end of this budget year. Director Don Cooper said he thought they “considered this” when they did the current budget. Mancebo said there is a difference in the rates for capital project salaries, such as work at Gayla Manor, and operation and maintenance salaries, such as pipeline repairs. He said they could make projections for salaries for specific employees, such as capital or O&M work, and break down every project into tasks per employee. But if actual work did not happen that way, it would not match the budget. Mancebo said the agency is looking at using a different format, and different software. Lee said “we don’t have the budget software wherewithal” to give more explicit detail, and buying new budget software would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said he uses an Excel spreadsheet to combine the nine different systems, which end up in the budget report with attachments of 25 different worksheets. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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