Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors approved its 2009-2010 budget last week, with a possible layoff of 4 employees and proposed rate hikes across all agency systems. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said rate increases were not as big as initially approved in 2 systems. The Amador Water System customers will have an 8 percent increase, a hike below an already approved 12 percent increase, that would have come into place in July. Martell wastewater customers originally faced a 25 percent rate increase, but with reductions in budget spending, that was reduced to a 15 percent increase. Abercrombie said the budget included proposed 8 percent rate increases in all other systems. Those hikes would be subject to Proposition 218 notification guidelines and public meetings. That includes proposed 8 percent rate increases in the Central Amador Water Project retail system in the Upcountry; Camanche water and wastewater systems; LaMel Heights water system; and 10 small wastewater systems that make up Wastewater Improvement District Number 1. Each would be subject to public meetings and Prop 218 guidelines. Abercrombie said 2 temporary employee jobs will be lost, and he will be speaking to the 3 employee associations to come up with an idea for cost savings, to the equivalent of 2 other positions. The total to be cut is about $100,000 dollars, he said. He was planning to start meeting with employees today and hoped to start implementing cuts or measures over the next month or 2. Those may include reduced work hours, furloughs or contract changes. He said AWA has had 3 vacant positions and “over the last 3 years came in with flat budgets” as it anticipated the recession. He said the agency “noticed the slowdown in new businesses and saw that the economy was turning, and we knew that the recession could impact the agency.” 2 vacancies occurred in engineering and 1 occurred in construction and the positions went unfilled. Layoffs will affect 2 temporary engineering positions and could affect one staff engineer, and one permanent clerk. Abercrombie said the staff engineer position was a quality control job that meant efficiency to the last to AWA pipelines. He said Plymouth’s pipeline has had ½ of 1 percent change orders, and the Amador Transmission Pipeline was similar. He said he hopes to attain those efficiency cost reductions elsewhere. He said as the agency tightens the belt, it becomes more important to realize the AWA is “an agency that deals 100 percent with health and safety issues.” Abercrombie has “been charged to implement the budget and report back on how we are doing it.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009 01:25
Amador Water Agency
Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors approved its 2009-2010 budget last week, with a possible layoff of 4 employees and proposed rate hikes across all agency systems. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said rate increases were not as big as initially approved in 2 systems. The Amador Water System customers will have an 8 percent increase, a hike below an already approved 12 percent increase, that would have come into place in July. Martell wastewater customers originally faced a 25 percent rate increase, but with reductions in budget spending, that was reduced to a 15 percent increase. Abercrombie said the budget included proposed 8 percent rate increases in all other systems. Those hikes would be subject to Proposition 218 notification guidelines and public meetings. That includes proposed 8 percent rate increases in the Central Amador Water Project retail system in the Upcountry; Camanche water and wastewater systems; LaMel Heights water system; and 10 small wastewater systems that make up Wastewater Improvement District Number 1. Each would be subject to public meetings and Prop 218 guidelines. Abercrombie said 2 temporary employee jobs will be lost, and he will be speaking to the 3 employee associations to come up with an idea for cost savings, to the equivalent of 2 other positions. The total to be cut is about $100,000 dollars, he said. He was planning to start meeting with employees today and hoped to start implementing cuts or measures over the next month or 2. Those may include reduced work hours, furloughs or contract changes. He said AWA has had 3 vacant positions and “over the last 3 years came in with flat budgets” as it anticipated the recession. He said the agency “noticed the slowdown in new businesses and saw that the economy was turning, and we knew that the recession could impact the agency.” 2 vacancies occurred in engineering and 1 occurred in construction and the positions went unfilled. Layoffs will affect 2 temporary engineering positions and could affect one staff engineer, and one permanent clerk. Abercrombie said the staff engineer position was a quality control job that meant efficiency to the last to AWA pipelines. He said Plymouth’s pipeline has had ½ of 1 percent change orders, and the Amador Transmission Pipeline was similar. He said he hopes to attain those efficiency cost reductions elsewhere. He said as the agency tightens the belt, it becomes more important to realize the AWA is “an agency that deals 100 percent with health and safety issues.” Abercrombie has “been charged to implement the budget and report back on how we are doing it.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
