Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors learned Thursday its agency-wide rate study will be a consolidation not of the agency itself, but of the rate structure among the water systems.
Bob Reed of the Reed Group led a workshop on his study, which he said is looking at ways to share common costs in a base rate of water systems.
Director Paul Molinelli Senior said he voted for the agency wide rate study because he thought it was a good idea for Camanche and La Mel Heights. Molinelli said he “thought there was going to be an elimination of those water districts and a consolidation into one, and if not, then what is it?”
Reed said at the last meeting it seemed to be misunderstood that the consolidation was organizational restructuring, but they are really looking at a creating one system-wide water rate structure.
Director Robert Manassero asked what would be placed into the base fee. Reed said anything that could and should be shared evenly, such as administrative functions, rent, accounting, and utility billing, and work not done in individual systems, such as repair or replacement of systems.
Manassero said the AWA eliminated its finance director, but gained a Certified Public Accountant in new Controller Marvin Davis. He said criticism of Reed’s study cost was unfounded because the work still had to be done.
Manassero asked if the study would address some system members’ concern that they think they are paying more than other systems. Reed said it could by giving more transparency and fairness to the rate structure.
Reed said they need to have a way to take those central costs and spread them out, allocate them, and the bulk of the study is looking at that process. He said some employees may work at a different water system each day, and analysis will look at a five years of costs, to make a five-year model.
AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said “some systems may get more work or it could very well be that water treatment operators spend the same amount of time on a per-gallon basis at all of the systems.”
Molinelli said he thought there was more to it than that and he was “somewhat dismayed that consolidating the agency was not a part of that.”
Davis said “we are going to come away with new rates.” The amount spent on common costs this year is not the same as last year, or previous years, because systems break down. He said they are looking at time cards and all costs that are directly related to a system, and “we will come away with a base rate that every system is consuming.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
