Directors: Pay closer attention to the mood of the ratepayers

Open letter to the water board and citizens of Ramona:

So the Ramona Municipal Water District Board has chosen to ignore the people who elected it and listen to the employees.

Sometimes that is a good thing, but in this case I think that maybe the board should be paying a little closer attention to the mood of the people. We have suffered through endless explanations about how the fees are just a “pass through” from the water authority that Ramona purchases water from, coupled with the cost to pump, a cost that was projected to drop in 2012, and again in 2013 by the current general manager, but has not and was listed as one of the reasons to increase our fees. I would say our general manager is batting 0.

What has been left out is that we are also paying for the salaries of all the employees, staff and consultants. Now I don’t know about the rest of Ramona, but I have not seen a pay raise in a few years, while it appears that all the folks at Ramona Water have. The manager, Mr. Barnum, has seen raises of 5% in 2013, 3% in ‘14 and a 3% raise this year; the employees have seen a 2% raise every year since 2013 plus a minimum “COLA” raise of not less than 1% per year not to exceed 3% per year.

So while the rest of us have to cut back and cut back, the folks at the water district get to raise the rates to make sure that they receive the raises that the board has so graciously provided.

Now we are told in what is probably the most laughable of explanations by CFO Hannasch that as long as we continue to cut back our water use we won’t feel as much pain when it comes to paying our bills, but that if we continue to do that, of course the water district will have to continue to raise our rates to feed the district’s mounting costs. Is it Mr. Hannasch’s contention that we should cut back our water use to the point that we are no longer using the resource that is necessary for life so that we don’t have to pay the outrageous costs of a district that is top-heavy in pay for employees and rather short on facilities.

In 2010 the water district asked us all to cut back and we did, so much so that we had a rate increase, because of course we were so good regarding our cutbacks that the district was not receiving enough funds to pay for itself. Water use went back up but rates never went back down, so if we never raised our use back up, then the water district should have cut its salaries and staff by an equal amount. It didn’t.

Here is something to ponder. The water district is a party in a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water District that they have prevailed on (MWD violated cost of service requirements of California’s Constitution, statutes and common law when setting rates for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Specifically, MWD’s rates violate California’s wheeling statute. See more at: https://www.sdcwa.org/final-ruling-water-authority-wins-landmark-rate-litigation-against-metropolitan-water-district#sthash.GUlhZmUq.dpuf), has another one that they most likely will prevail on since it is the same as the one they just won, (to authorize another lawsuit against MWD over rates it adopted on April 8 for 2015 and 2016 using the same illegal methodology it used the prior four years. Allowed to stand, MWD’s rates for 2015 and 2016 alone will overcharge San Diego County ratepayers by $92 million. See more at: https://www.sdcwa.org/final-ruling-water-authority-wins-landmark-rate-litigation-against-metropolitan-water-district#sthash.GUlhZmUq.dpuf), and they have a third that is tied to the other two that since they will have proven their case will also most likely prevail on. Will they refund the overpayments back to the residents of Ramona or will they continue to raise rates? By law they are required to offset our rates with the overpayment that was awarded them, refund the overpayment entirely, or put it to use to better our system without raising our rates. How come that was not brought up at the discussion by any member of the board, particularly, or either the CFO or CEO of the district?

Next of course we are going to hear the whine and lamentation regarding the fire fees that are a part of our property tax not being enough to cover the costs of the contract with Cal Fire, and how we will need to vote to increase the tax we pay on our property tax. News flash, water board, keep increasing the rates and I can guarantee you that we will not be voting to increase the taxes on ourselves. A note to the water board and CEO and CFO: you cannot keep taking and taking and not expect a backlash. Most of us do not see the annual raises and subsidized health care that you receive.

Kevin Pack is a Ramona resident.