Amador County – Crunching budget numbers in a workshop Monday, the Amador Water Agency board of directors dropped its Washington, D.C. lobbyists for the coming fiscal year and discussed other budget items. Dropping the D.C. lobbyist 2009-2010 will mean a savings of $90,000 dollars. Board Chairman Terence Moore recommended they “drop it for next year,” noting that the agency “could barely afford it last year.” Vice Chairman Bill Condrashoff agreed. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said the lobbyists, which were paid a total of $277,500 dollars over the previous 3 fiscal years, helped the agency secure $3 million dollars in funding from the USDA Rural Utility Service for expansion of the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant. The consolidated administrative budget line items included a 300 percent increase in the public relations budget, from $2,500 dollars to $10,000. Moore said: “I don’t have any heartburn with $10,000.” A woman in the audience showed a 1-page folded newsletter from Calaveras County that she said costs 50 cents, compared to the AWA’s full-color, glossy newsletter. She said the agency should come down a bit on its costs, because “we’re talking about ratepayers here.” Moore said may they need to “have department heads report to us on where we can see savings,” and they “should direct staff to come back to us with some cuts.” Abercrombie said “I would ask them directly. They will know right now.” In public comment, David Evitt said the AWA needs departmental cost savings reviews, and each department should “bring in their cost savings and analyses, then see where the fat is.” Abercrombie said he does not “ask the department heads to report on things that they should be doing” as part of their job, and that is finding “cost savings” for the agency. Construction department head Barry Birge said he does a lot of research for purchases, spending a lot of time on the phone and the computer to get the best product at the cheapest price. Condrashoff said he saw some items in staff reports that he thought were expensive, so he wrote down the items and did his own research of prices. He said Birge is “kicking butt” in his shopping. 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 – Crunching budget numbers in a workshop Monday, the Amador Water Agency board of directors dropped its Washington, D.C. lobbyists for the coming fiscal year and discussed other budget items. Dropping the D.C. lobbyist 2009-2010 will mean a savings of $90,000 dollars. Board Chairman Terence Moore recommended they “drop it for next year,” noting that the agency “could barely afford it last year.” Vice Chairman Bill Condrashoff agreed. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said the lobbyists, which were paid a total of $277,500 dollars over the previous 3 fiscal years, helped the agency secure $3 million dollars in funding from the USDA Rural Utility Service for expansion of the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant. The consolidated administrative budget line items included a 300 percent increase in the public relations budget, from $2,500 dollars to $10,000. Moore said: “I don’t have any heartburn with $10,000.” A woman in the audience showed a 1-page folded newsletter from Calaveras County that she said costs 50 cents, compared to the AWA’s full-color, glossy newsletter. She said the agency should come down a bit on its costs, because “we’re talking about ratepayers here.” Moore said may they need to “have department heads report to us on where we can see savings,” and they “should direct staff to come back to us with some cuts.” Abercrombie said “I would ask them directly. They will know right now.” In public comment, David Evitt said the AWA needs departmental cost savings reviews, and each department should “bring in their cost savings and analyses, then see where the fat is.” Abercrombie said he does not “ask the department heads to report on things that they should be doing” as part of their job, and that is finding “cost savings” for the agency. Construction department head Barry Birge said he does a lot of research for purchases, spending a lot of time on the phone and the computer to get the best product at the cheapest price. Condrashoff said he saw some items in staff reports that he thought were expensive, so he wrote down the items and did his own research of prices. He said Birge is “kicking butt” in his shopping. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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