County Water District Held $4.2M Surplus While Enacting 18% Rate Hikes, Audit Reveals
Internal correspondence obtained under public records law shows commissioners reviewed unallocated capital reserves eight months before voting for consecutive residential billing increases.
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The water district carried an unallocated capital reserve of $4.2 million through the two budget years in which it raised residential rates by a combined 18 percent, according to the state audit released last week and the board correspondence released to this newspaper under public records law.
The reserve appears in the district's own quarterly statements from the first quarter of the audit period onward. Commissioners discussed it at a work session eight months before the first rate vote, minutes of that session show, and did not raise it during either of the two public hearings that preceded the increases.
Auditors wrote that the district met its statutory reserve requirement several times over and recommended that it publish a reserve policy setting out what the money is for and at what point it is spent down. The district has 60 days to respond in writing.
The board president said the reserve is held against a pipe replacement programme that has not yet been scheduled. Asked why the figure was not presented at the rate hearings, she said the hearings were about the rate and that the reserve had been in the published statements the whole time.
The district's next regular commissioner meeting includes a public comment period on quarterly billing. The audit, the board correspondence and the quarterly statements are all public records, and this newspaper will keep asking for the rest of the file.