Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors on Tuesday announced an overall reduction of employee salaries and benefits totaling $285,000.

General Manager Gene Mancebo made the announcement during a special meeting, saying there had been negotiations with all employee groups and unrepresented employees, and they had reached an agreement to reduce salaries and benefits, with the incorporation of furlough days. He said merit raises and Cost of Living Adjustments were eliminated, for an overall cut of 6-7 percent.

Mancebo said $285,000 is the estimated reduction for all of those reductions and changes. Finance Manager Mike Lee said the two areas of the budget, salaries and benefits, “very quickly will reflect the savings.”

President Bill Condrashoff said he would like to see all of the changes together to augment the budget at the November 18th meeting. Director Don Cooper said he agreed, but wondered if they should sub-note it, “because next year you will have these same battles.”

The special meeting was called to further discuss the first quarter financial report, and look at hiring out a study of the agency, toward reorganization.

Lee said salaries and benefits were reduced in the budget, and “that’s cash saved significantly from this year,” and that “will grow more in the next eight months.” Lee said that included four layoffs, and payment of money owed to those employees for things such as vacation time. Those savings will begin to show as well. He said the agency’s $10.5 million budget is balanced, “but cash doesn’t always come in on time.”

Cooper asked why “reserve contributions and contingencies” in the operating expenses were 51 percent under budget at the end of the first quarter, September 30th. Lee said “if you increase any line item … then theoretically you’re going to eat into your surplus.”

Cooper pointed out that the agency produced more water and collected less revenue. The report showed AWA water sales were $1.63 million for the quarter ending September 30th, and was down by $97,000 from the same time in 2009.

Condrashoff said the quarterly really only included two months of operating costs, and was therefore misleading. Vice President Debbie Dunn said the report, then, could be “painting too rosy a picture.”

Lee said “this is not a rosy picture, this is a specific picture of a static operating budget.”

Mancebo pointed out that operating expenses, at $1.69 million, were 35 percent under budget for this fiscal year, and were 7.54 percent lower than 2009.

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