Politics & Government
Ramona Water Board Hears Budget Update
The operating budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year is $28,317,793. RMWD costs are compared to other districts.
An update of the Ramona Municipal Water District’s preliminary operating budget was presented to the board of directors by David Barnum, assistant general manager, at the meeting on July 26.
The operating budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year is $28,317,793.
Barnum later explained: “This number includes all aspects of RMWD operations, including cost for Cal Fire, the cost of water purchased from CWA, electricity purchased from SDG&E, operations of the two wastewater facilities and other fixed costs.”
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He went on to explain, “The discretionary costs, the costs that RMWD has control over, is much smaller and since the 2007-08 fiscal year, RMWD has cut 10 percent of its work force and 10 percent of its operational costs, which amounted to approximately $1 million savings for the rate payers.”
Barnum also showed a rate comparison with other districts, including Fallbrook and Rincon Del Diablo and the cities of San Diego, Poway and Escondido. RMWD fared better than the others, with the exception of the charge for electricity.
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Ramona water is pumped up the hill from the Poway station, requiring the use of electricity that the other districts do not incur.
In other business, the board discussed the amount of compensation currently paid to the directors by the district. Each director receives $100 for attending a board meeting. It was the consensus of the board that the directors put in a considerable number of hours outside the board meetings, such as working on ad hoc committees, but that the timing is wrong to talk about a raise.
“I find myself spending about 15 hours a month on the duties here to be fully informed and on the ad hocs,” Director Joe Zenovic said. “I thought this would be an appropriate time to discuss it. It doesn’t have to be implemented now.”
The directors agreed to discuss the matter further at a later date, perhaps after the first of the year or around the time of the next election.
“I know we do put in an awful lot of hours we don’t get paid for,” Director Darrell Beck said. “This is not the proper time to consider raising fees when we’re trying to keep costs down.”
The RMWD board of directors will meet again Aug. 9 at 4:30 p.m. at Ramona Community Center, 434 Aqua Ln.
