The Other Side of BW&S District

The Other Side of BWSD

-by Karen Renner

2.12.2018

NOTE:  All figures quoted herein are taken from records supplied by the BWSD office.  The 2016-17 fiscal year-end figures are not yet audited; projected figures are identified and based on current available averages.  Complete fiscal year audits and current proposed budget are available on the BWSD website.

The first evening BWSD board meeting is February 15^th, 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center.

Customers of Bayview Water Sewer District should be informed of unsustainable deficit spending under the current Board of Directors.  Under new meeting rules announced in January, the board no longer will dialogue with or answer questions from the public during meetings.  Comments may not be made for items on the agenda for that meeting, because the board does not want to be ‘influenced’ prior to making decisions.   

When the district changed from employee based to contract based operations in August 2017, I asked the board specifically what duties our employees performed that would not be covered in the new operator contracts.  The board has yet to answer this question, and one board member went so far as to tell me that it may be years before they truly know what the difference in operation costs will be.  While monthly deficit spending continues, the board has launched a preliminary process to study and develop proposals for a $2,800,000 to $3,000,000 (YES, MILLION) bond for upgrades to the water system.  BOND means the district customers must re-pay a loan.  The initial estimate is a 100% increase of the existing base water rate of $24.00, resulting in a base rate of $48 MONTHLY per customer for water.  This does not include sewer fees, or any needed upgrades to our existing sewer system.

The BWSD board ‘sold’ the change from employee based to contract based operations by proclaiming “we will be saving $82,000 per year, which we will be able to use to re-pay the loan for improvements”.  We were also told the new contract operator was more skilled with higher licenses. In my opinion, operators with higher class licenses (to run systems such as Spokane or Coeur d’Alene) could be used as consultants, not day to day operations.  This could be compared to hiring a CPA to complete daily basic bookkeeping functions, at a substantial higher wage or salary.

BWSD stated at the October 2017 meeting that our former employee operator cost to the district (payroll, taxes, insurance and benefits) was $5,000 per month.  This cost also included most labor for maintenance and repairs to our systems, buildings, grounds, and 80-acre treatment site (timber mgmt, field cultivation, vegetation control etc).  We are currently paying $7,000 per month to contract operators who perform minimal labor for maintenance and repairs.  The district now pays additional labor costs to various businesses.  This includes excavation companies who must bring labor crews (at a cost of anywhere between $40 - $125/hr each crew member) to complete jobs which our contract operators do not perform under their contract and which our employees used to do (meter installs, pipe breaks, leak repairs etc).  We have yet to approach a season of opening and running the wastewater treatment site under contract operations.  Our treatment site has been shut down since the new wastewater charge operator began in September 2017.  I want to be clear, this is not the fault of our contract operators.  These contractors are simply doing what they bid for and is outlined in their contracts.   Our advocacy group has continually voiced concern regarding the uniqueness of our system, which requires exceptional time and familiarity to maintain AND operate.  The BWSD board failed to recognize this when abruptly dismissing the remaining employee operator and choosing to turn all operations over to new contractors.  All of this comes at a significant increase in operating costs to us, the customers of the district.  I assert the board failed to conduct an appropriate cost/benefit analysis prior to making a decision whether the contracts were appropriate for the amount being paid and failed to consider the impact on the overall district budget.

BWSD Repair and Maintenance totals under employee operations for fiscal years ending

2013      $41,892.00

2014      $43,076.00

2015       $31,666.00 actual

2016       $50,036.00 actual, $51,900 budgeted

BWSD Repair and Maintenance totals after switching to contract based operations in August 2017:

2017       $98,056.00 actual, $53,000 budgeted

(includes $25,155 expense for 2 pumps which may be capitalized, leaving actual amounts of $72,901 which still exceeds budget.  With this adjusted actual number, in the first 8 months of the fiscal year, the district spent $27,205 for employee based maintenance/repairs.  In the last 5 months- August-December, 2017, they spent $66,045 for contract based maintenance/ repairs---A 142.7% INCREASE.

2018       Budget is $68,000.  $20,346 was spent in December, 2017, the first month of the fiscal year

Under employee based operations 2013 -2016, the average monthly cost for maintenance and repairs was $3,473.00.  Contract operation monthly average for maintenance and repairs for Oct, Nov and Dec was $15,573.  

One employee operator cost ($5,000) + average monthly maintenance/repairs ($3,473) equates to approximately $8,473.00 or $101,676 per year.

Current budget is $89,000 for operators, $10,000 for contract labor and $68,000 for maintenance and repairs, or $167,000 for the year, which under current spending will be well exceeded.

After raising base rates $3.00 per customer per month, the 2016 -2017 fiscal year net operating loss was $67,186. This works out to be an estimated additional $141.00 per customer for the year (estimated 475 customers +/-).

In December 2017, first month of the new fiscal year, the operating loss was posted at $23,439.

Total Checking and Savings balances decreased $83,174 from 7/31/17 to 12/31/17 and the district's Total Assets decreased a whopping $128,466 from this rampant, out of control spending.

I am asking concerned district members to get involved! Come to meetings and submit your own questions to the board.  Our goal is to preserve the affordable lifestyle we enjoy in Bayview, and ensure our water and sewer system is responsibly run within the identified budget.

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this large amount of information.

*On the following page you will find comparison budget data over the past several years.  Please note this is not inclusive of all district operation costs.  Audits and current budget can be found on the district website. This is for consideration only regarding cost/benefit analysis of employee vs contract based operations.  All figures quoted herein are taken from records supplied by the BWSD office.  The 2016-17 fiscal year-end figures are not yet audited; projected figures are identified as such as an estimate based on current available amounts which were averaged.  I have no intent to mislead in any way, I am just a concerned citizen who feels our district can be run more efficiently on a day to day basis.