Amador County – In its second workshop on the 2009-2010 budget, the Amador Water Agency board of directors on Tuesday clarified its directions to staff from the previous meeting. Board member Don Cooper pointed at a 13.9 percent rate increase in wastewater and told staff he thought he had told them to look at “no rate increases.” AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie said he thought the direction of the board was to have “staff come up with some kind of revenue stream to close the gap.” Board member Bill Condrashoff criticized Finance Manager Mike Lee for “math errors” and figures that did not add up correctly. Lee projected the last 6 weeks of the fiscal year, and “it’s the most realistic prediction I can give you.” Cooper said “I would like to see the impact of removing $800,000 dollars from this budget. We are not supposed to build this budget line by line.” He said “I’m a little frustrated because that is not our job.” Board member Debbie Dunn said the only changes staff pointed out in the new draft budget was the Cost of Living Adjustment. Abercrombie said he was looking at 5 different board members’ directions, and “some want to go line by line and go through the minutiae,” and some want a more wide view. Board member Gary Thomas said he would like to see the broad budget and then go line by line when needed. Chairman Terence Moore said “I would like to see this thing flat, see if we can give them a breather for a year.” He suggested balancing the budget using reserves. Condrashoff said he would like to see it balanced this year, but not by using reserves, because they would just face the same problems next year. Cooper said he thought the budget was over-projecting revenues and “stacking the deck – you are expecting to get more revenue that you will probably get.” Condrashoff said he wanted to minimize rate increases and cut the budget. Moore said he did not “know if we can cut out all the rate increases.” He suggested trying to keep the increases low, in the 2-4 percent range. Cooper said “we probably can’t take it to zero, but I’d like to see what happens when we take ti to zero. I would like to see what it looks like without the wound getting cut open.” Condrashoff agreed, saying he would like to see the Amador Water System rate increase “down to zero.” 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 – In its second workshop on the 2009-2010 budget, the Amador Water Agency board of directors on Tuesday clarified its directions to staff from the previous meeting. Board member Don Cooper pointed at a 13.9 percent rate increase in wastewater and told staff he thought he had told them to look at “no rate increases.” AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie said he thought the direction of the board was to have “staff come up with some kind of revenue stream to close the gap.” Board member Bill Condrashoff criticized Finance Manager Mike Lee for “math errors” and figures that did not add up correctly. Lee projected the last 6 weeks of the fiscal year, and “it’s the most realistic prediction I can give you.” Cooper said “I would like to see the impact of removing $800,000 dollars from this budget. We are not supposed to build this budget line by line.” He said “I’m a little frustrated because that is not our job.” Board member Debbie Dunn said the only changes staff pointed out in the new draft budget was the Cost of Living Adjustment. Abercrombie said he was looking at 5 different board members’ directions, and “some want to go line by line and go through the minutiae,” and some want a more wide view. Board member Gary Thomas said he would like to see the broad budget and then go line by line when needed. Chairman Terence Moore said “I would like to see this thing flat, see if we can give them a breather for a year.” He suggested balancing the budget using reserves. Condrashoff said he would like to see it balanced this year, but not by using reserves, because they would just face the same problems next year. Cooper said he thought the budget was over-projecting revenues and “stacking the deck – you are expecting to get more revenue that you will probably get.” Condrashoff said he wanted to minimize rate increases and cut the budget. Moore said he did not “know if we can cut out all the rate increases.” He suggested trying to keep the increases low, in the 2-4 percent range. Cooper said “we probably can’t take it to zero, but I’d like to see what happens when we take ti to zero. I would like to see what it looks like without the wound getting cut open.” Condrashoff agreed, saying he would like to see the Amador Water System rate increase “down to zero.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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