Candidate for
Board Member; West Bay Sanitary District

THE BUDGET

The budget is the most important single thing the District Board can approve. It requires approval of all items of expense and of all sources of income for the Sanitary District. Only after this is done, can the connection fees and user rates be set for the year. The budget is also a marker by which the Board can tell how well the District is doing through out the year.

The District's financial structure is in good shape for this fiscal year (2001/2002). In July of this year, the Board voted to maintain the single family residential rate at $242.00 annually. To summarize, the total General Fund budgeted expenditures are:

COLLECTION SYSTEM
Operating Expenses:		$2,797,091
WASTWATER TREATMENT
Expenses:		$2,906,508
NON-OPERATING
Expense:		$---12,404
RESERVES AND LIABILITIES		$2,536,668
TOTAL		$8,252,671

The Construction and Replacement Fund expenditures are budgeted to be $5,407,250 with an expected fund balance of $5,336,585 at the end or the fiscal year. It is the District's policy to make all improvements on a "pay as we go basis". The District wishes to avoid the additional cost to the public of bonded indebtedness.

The financial consultant Mr.Craig Lawson has been hired to make a three year update study of the District's finances. His study together with the preparation of the next budget will determined if next year's rates need to be changed.

FLOW EQUALIZATION FACILITY

The proper use of this valuable asset is being negotiated with the South Bayside System Authority. The facility has the ability to help level the waste water flow to SBSA's treatment plant during heavy wet weather. The West Bay Sanitary District expects to be paid rent for SBSA's use of this facility. It is rather unsettling to contemplate, but if the need to pre-treat a large quanity of toxic clean up wash down water should occur, the large tanks at the Flow Equalization Facility would likely be the place to do it.

KEEPING GOOD RECORDS

West Bay must be able to generate the necessary records to satisfy government accounting code (GASB 34) and to defend the District's past actions if an overflow occurs in our collection system that causes a problem with the Regional Water Quality Control Board. This need is one of the prime movers in the District's asset management study, where the District Board and staff are considering either the upgrading of our current COSMO sewer maintenance scheduling system or replacing it with one of the available commercial systems.

In the past the District's plans to upgrade or replace its infrastructure have been satisfactory. Now there is a need to get a more complete understanding of the physical condition of all the sewer mains in the system. The plan is to prepare a complete TV video tape of each sewer main in the District. Not only can an immediate evaluation of each sewer be made, but images of potential problems can be stored in a Disrict's upgraded computer system. Asset management will occur when the District is able to extract good information from all the data it plans to collect.