Water District Approves Two-Year $100 Million Operating Budget

The Dublin San Ramon Services District this week passed a two-year $100 million operating budget without having to raise service rates.

The current service rates are enough to cover operating costs, but it will remain a challenge to stay afloat, according to the district's Financial Services Manager Lori Rose.

Lower-than-average water sales and increasing conservation needs, despite a wet year, continue to be a strain on the district, Rose stated.

“These balanced budgets meet all fiscal policy objectives established by the board, including having adequate reserves on hand to meet the district’s operating needs," Rose said.

The district already reduced its staff by 19 percent since 2008. And administrative costs, overtime costs and the price of outside contracts have significantly dropped over the past few years, which allows the district to save some cash.

Plus, the district increased its customer base by 4 percent, thus bringing in more revenue. The district now serves 145,000 people in Dublin, Pleasanton and parts of San Ramon.

Also this week, the board adopted a $9.5 million two-year capital improvement budget.

The two-year plan includes only the most critical projects, according to the district. The goal is to spend no more than $5.6 million on projects in this next fiscal year and $3.9 million in the fiscal year ending in June 2013.

“We’re doing only what needs to be done, things that help us keep costs low and things that if left undone would cost us more in the long run,” district Engineer Dave Requa said.

The most expensive capital improvement projects, according to a press release from the district, are to:

• Improve and relocate the co-generation electrical system at the wastewater treatment plant to improve reliability and minimize peak energy demand charges.
• Improve communications reliability of the water and recycled water Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which will reduce staff overtime needed to respond to off-hours alarms. This project will also improve operational efficiencies and enable better control of the District’s various water facilities.
• Rehabilitate the Dissolved Air Flotation Thickener (DAFT) to improve the removal of settled solids.
• Re-coat the exterior and interior of water reservoirs 1B and 2. Multiple coating blisters were detected on the interior surfaces and areas of corrosion were detected on the roof when the reservoirs were cleaned and inspected in 2009. Re-coating the facilities now will extend their life and reduce operating impacts.
• Replace 1,800 feet of an 8-inch diameter water pipeline, which has had a history of frequent breaks and repairs.

More information

See: Operating Budgets, FYE 2012 and 2013 and CIP Two Year Budget, FYE 2012-2013