Mr. Stanley Williams, CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Water
District (SCVWD), ended the recent Morgan Hill Times guest column
to South County by stating:
“We believe that the level of reliability and quality of the
water we provide is what the community deserves and expects.”
Frankly, we expect more and deserve better. We don’t expect an
increase of wholesale water rates of 877 percent in the 18 year
period that Mr. Bob Cerruti reported on in t
he accompanying column in the Morgan Hill Times.
Mr. Stanley Williams, CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD), ended the recent Morgan Hill Times guest column to South County by stating: “We believe that the level of reliability and quality of the water we provide is what the community deserves and expects.”
Frankly, we expect more and deserve better. We don’t expect an increase of wholesale water rates of 877 percent in the 18 year period that Mr. Bob Cerruti reported on in the accompanying column in the Morgan Hill Times.
We don’t expect this level of increase when compared with other utility bills or the cost of living. Apart from reliability and quality, we expect the District to be the low cost supplier of wholesale water. Only by examining the past and comparing it to today may this be stated.
Not long ago, we sat down and talked to Mr. Fred Angelino. Fred’s an amazing and vital individual. He’s now 88 years old, past president of the Gavilan Water Conservation District (GWCD) and sharp as a tack.
He talked extensively about water in South County and the GWCD. The 35,000 acre GWCD extended south of Tennant in Morgan Hill to the San Benito line. They built and controlled two dams, purchased and operated the Church Avenue percolation ponds, participated in financing the construction of the Gilroy Reclamation facility, cleaned creek beds for percolation and maintained and managed the groundwater for 50 years. They were not involved with flood control.
Fred said there were five people employed at GWCD. There was a maintenance man, secretary, one part time engineer, one part time attorney and the office manager.
Fred had a box of records from his GWCD days. Ending June 30 1985, GWCD’s annual outside audit showed salaries and benefits were a whopping $139,304. The total budget with salaries included was $505,286. This included amortizing capital projects.
When voters dissolved GWCD in 1987, the land size of the Gavilan water district was 61 percent of what is now Zone W5 in the SCVWD (South County). Under the auspices of SCVWD, Zone W5 was created in 1987 and included the Llagas and Coyote sub-basin extending south of Metcaf road.
Today, SCVWD charges South County $10.9 million dollars to run the water utility program. And of this, $7.9 million is for Reservoir and Groundwater Basin Management.
The $7.9 million doesn’t cover imported water costs or capital amortization. If SCVWD used the spending mindset employed by team Gavilan, the $7.9 million would not exceed $2 million. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index calculator, GWCD’s 1985 budget of $505,286 would be $920,000 in today’s dollars. That would leave $1.08 million to hire engineers, technicians, accounts, etc to support South County reservoir and groundwater management.
SCVWD’s district labor cost in fiscal year 1985/1986 was under $15 million. In today’s dollars that’s a little under $27 million. The current SCVWD budget recently approved by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors shows District labor (salaries and benefits) to be slightly under $106 million. Ratepayers shoulder this largess. As a percentage of total District revenue sources, the $106 million represents 46 percent of that source.
SCVWD appeared before the Board of Supervisors Aug. 9 for the purpose of hearing and adopting the budget.
Part of the budget was another groundwater rate increase of $15 per acre-feet for both the North and South County. Mr. Williams offered that District staff initially started with a plan for no rate increase. However it was requested on the part of the water retailer(s). They (the District) had been over ridden by the retailer(s).
There are 13 water retailers served by SCVWD. Three of the thirteen are on record for supporting a rate increase. They are the San Jose Water Company and the cities of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. South County retailers were not in the group requesting an increase. Mr. Williams cited increased costs for buying imported water, chemicals and improvement to treatment plants. Of course, South County has no treatment plants or need for the chemicals required in those plants.
SCVWD has an overhead problem. In 1977, the 300 workers in the District provided services required for Santa Clara county. There’s now 800. The organization needs to be right-sized. Do more outsourcing. Make a list of what’s realistically required versus what’s nice.
Cut out nice. Fund capital improvement projects with voter approved revenue bonds or general obligation bonds. Voters will help trim the nice. Adopt the Harvey Rose audit suggestions. Eliminate the word “cost-effective” from your mission statement. Replace it with “The District will be the low-cost water retailer.”
