EDITOR: The Santa Clara Valley Water District does not need the
proposed 25 percent increase in rates.
EDITOR:
The Santa Clara Valley Water District does not need the proposed 25 percent increase in rates.
Last year the water district told us that they needed a 14.3 percent rate increase to pay for the following programs: recharge or replenishment of the groundwater basin, groundwater cleanup oversite program, water efficiency program and the development of recycled water.
What the district did not tell us, is that they have taken money from the water enterprise fund (well pump tax) and the various watershed funds (flood control tax) that we all pay into, to pay for its new $4.6 million solar project and the natural gas generator and heat recovery project. We are now told that the district estimates a cumulative shortfall balance of $1.7 million by the end of fiscal year 2003-2004. All I can say is that the district has already spent that amount and more by approving the $4.6 million project. Why didn’t they go out for a grant on this project?
The district has told us many times that the South County does not generate enough funds for the various projects that are needed here. Well, let me tell you, that the district has been very kind to its 889 employees. In the past two years, the district employees have been given a 52.4 percent increase in their salaries and benefits. If the 25 percent rate increase goes through, then the district employees will see their salaries and benefits rise by 72.9 percent in just three years.
It appears to me that the Board of Directors has been giving a rubber stamp to the district’s budgets and not question these out-of-sight increases.
I do not know of any company in Santa Clara County that has given their employees these kind of huge salaries and benefit increases, especially at a time when many companies are cutting their budgets and many people are still looking for work.
I would like to know if the Water District has any capital projects that are not related to water supply or flood control in the 25 percent increase. As far as I am concerned, there should be no increase in our water or flood control rates for fiscal 2004-2005.
The SCVWD board of directors adopted the new budget on May 25. The South County water district representative is Rosemary Kamei; www.valleywater.org/
Robert J. Cerruti,
San Martin
Editor’s note: Representatives of the SCVWD say employees will receive 3 percent raises as they have in recent years and that benefit costs have risen 190 percent and health insurance costs are up 35 percent. There will be no change in employees’ benefit packages.
