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McInnes Delves Into Finances, Other Issues Facing GWD
At its monthly issue and policy roundtable discussion Wednesday, the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce focused on Goleta’s little corner of the state’s water supply, hosting Goleta Water District General Manager John McInnes as the guest speaker.
“I’ve been Mr. Doom and Gloom at a lot of presentations, and people always ask me if there’s any good news,” said McInnes, who took over as general manager in December. “There is good news, and that’s that our water supply is in great shape.”
Although water supplies across the state have been rocked by three years of severe drought, McInnes said Goleta has a robust water portfolio.
The district is not without its problems, though. Chief among them is a looming $1.9 million budget gap for 2010. Like other private- and public-sector entities, the economic downturn appears to have affected the Goleta Water District, as an ethic of frugality has spurred residential customers in particular to use a lot less water. That also has meant less revenue for the district, as annual demand has dropped from more than 14,000 acre-feet in years past to about 13,000 this year.
A few unexpected expenses — including $400,000 spent to treat contamination caused by the Gap Fire, which burned around the Corona del Mar Water Treatment Plant in July 2008 — bumped up the budget to $25 million.
McInnes said his staff and the board of directors are actively working to close the deficit using administrative measures such as curtailing overtime pay hours for district employees.
“We’re attacking overtime with a vengeance to reduce overtime expenses,” he said, adding that the savings will amount to about $1.1 million.
The district also expects a $490,000 refund this year from the Cachuma Operations and Maintenance Board, of which the Goleta Water District is a member unit along with four other area water resource management agencies. The refund will come from money the district is contractually obligated to pay COMB that was not used.
The staff is looking at selling off some of the district’s surplus State Water Project allotment and restructuring its debt in order to address the remaining $310,000 gap.
Questions from attendees at Wednesday’s forum covered subjects such as potential rate increases and UCSB’s Long Range Development Plan, which is still undergoing environmental review. McInnes said that although there are several improvement projects that ratepayers will have to fund, the district still has the lowest rates in the region and is working to keep rates from rising too much.
Some people said they were concerned about the availability of water for new development, but McInnes said that out of about 150 acre-feet reserved for that purpose annually, actual use has been less than 10 acre-feet during the past several years. This year, 2.73 acre-feet have been allotted to new developments, such as the county’s new Emergency Operations Center and a couple of apartment complexes.
McInnes said future expenses will range from new applications of recycled water — of which the GWD delivers about 1,000 acre-feet annually — and an $800,000 relocation of water infrastructure running through Goleta Beach Park, which may be required after the Coastal Commission’s July 2009 denial of a plan to beef up the Goleta Pier in an effort to trap sand on the erosion-prone beach.
A sore spot with the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce — which typically has adopted a hard line in favor of coastal armoring at the park — the county is entertaining an option called park reconfiguration, which would mean relocation of bath houses, water and electric lines, and parking to allow a natural storm buffer zone between the water line and the park’s grassy recreation area.
Challenges aside, McInnes said he is optimistic about the future of the district, and glad for the opportunity to lead it into its next phase.
“I had a lot of fun at the county,” he said, referring to his years of service with the Santa Barbara County Executive Office and the Department of Long Range Planning. “But I’m having a lot of fun at the district, too. I get to wear a lot of hats, and it’s a smaller group — a close-knit family.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Ben Preston can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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