Dear Neighbors and Ratepayers,
On December 14, 2009, I had the honor of being chosen as President for the Rio Linda Elverta Community Water District Board of Directors for a second term.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish our community a Happy New Year and to provide an end-of-the-year update on the water district. It’s been an interesting year.
We had three newcomers elected to the board. I especially appreciate that these individuals work tirelessly in an effort to try and make things better for the rest of us.
After the current board was seated, it was revealed that there was little money on which to run the district. The district was faced with a Compliance Order that could have run into millions of dollars to fix the formerly neglected issues. The district was left with little or no monetary reserves. A couple of alternatives the new board needed to consider were raising the rates, cutting costs or both. This board has elected to address its financial situation by attempting to cut expenses in the operations of the district. We also implemented a three year phased in surcharge to fund a State Revolving Loan of $7.5 million in order to construct three new wells. This surcharge will cease when the loan for the three wells is paid off.
I am very proud of staff, management and our current board’s efforts during this past year in which we were able to stabilize the district's financial situation. We had inherited quite a challenging set of circumstances that honestly seemed insurmountable. We've worked very hard to get this far and vow to keep working diligently for the rate payers and the Water District.
Have a safe, healthy and happy new year. Thank you very much for your support.
Sincerely,
Mary Harris