Plan to increase water rates flawed

EDITOR:

Douglas County is proposing to consolidate eight enterprise funds which provide water services.

That consolidation is for purely economic reasons - to make more people pay for the county's mismanagement of the funds over the years.

Enterprise funds, according to Nevada law, are required to be self-sufficient - receive from their customers sufficient money to operate and maintain the system and services for which the fund was created.

Over the years, Douglas County has not done that. For at least six of the funds the county has failed to collect sufficient revenue to maintain and operate the systems providing water meeting quality standards and adequate fire flow.

The proposed consolidation will not interconnect the water systems to provide better quality, better management or increased fire protection.

The consolidation will, according to the county, "share the risk, and broaden the revenue base."

Six of the eight funds will pay less for their water while two - the larger customer base - will see substantial cost increases of 70 percent or more. It's like your neighbor requiring you pay to fix his well with you receiving nothing but the bill.

The plan is premature. There are other alternatives to research besides the consolidation which the county has failed to examine - special assessments, enterprise fund bonds, stimulus funds, etc., etc.

They paid a Redmond, Wash., consultant $101,000 of our tax dollars to study only the rate structure of the consolidation and nothing else.

This consolidation places an unfair and inequitable burden on those who will receive no benefit.

Be sure to call and e-mail the Douglas County commissioners listed on the county's Web site at www.douglascountynv.gov and voice your opposition.

Attend the commissioners' 1 p.m. Minden meetings on Thursday and June 3 and their 1 p.m. Lake Tahoe meeting on June 17 where they will probably vote on this issue. Ask for a roll call vote.

Stuart L. Posselt

Minden