County taxpayers should cover water systems

The county commission's water system debate is winding down. There seems to be ample evidence and considerable agreement that the current mess is the result of past mismanagement of the various separate county water systems now proposed for consolidation. The stumbling block: who's going to pay for what is required to put things right?

Only two choices seem to have been seriously considered. One is to have the residents of each separate system pay to have their separate systems brought up to snuff. Meaning those with higher costs and/or fewer residents would pay more. The other is to lump everything together and share the costs more or less equally among all the residents of all the systems. Meaning those with lower costs would be subsidizing those with higher costs. The county seems to be leaning toward the latter.

But there is a third choice, which I don't like, but which I think is the correct and honorable way to go. And that is for all Douglas County residents to share this burden. Why? Because we are, collectively, responsible for the mismanagement that led us to this point. Let me explain.

It seems clear to me that the mistakes that have been made are the responsibility of county government. Some stem from administrative mismanagement of these various systems over the years. Others stem from lax oversight of the implementation of new systems prior to and during construction. And in at least one instance county government seems to have "accepted" a troubled system without proper due diligence.

The mistakes certainly don't seem to be the results of actions by the current residents of these various systems, most of whom simply moved in and pay their bills on time and turn the tap on and off, assuming that those to whom responsibility for these systems has been delegated are doing a proper job.

If you're like me you were probably raised to acknowledge your mistakes, take responsibility for them, do what you can to correct them, learn appropriate lessons from them and try not to repeat them. And you probably expect your government to do the same.

So who is county government anyway? Well, it's all of us. Not just the residents of a few water systems. County government is our combined responsibility. We elect and delegate most of that responsibility to the County Commission, which then hires and delegates most of that responsibility to the County Manager, who hires and delegates responsibility to county staff.

When mistakes are made the responsibility can be traced right back to the top. Which is us, the voters and residents of Douglas County. We put the leadership in place that allowed this to happen. And so must take ultimate responsibility for the results. If we don't like those results then we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to change leadership at the next election. Something that should be clearly on our minds this year.

I'm not anxious to have my tax dollars used to correct these mistakes, but I think that is what should be done. Determine what is required to put each system on a sound footing. To the degree those funds are not available in each system's reserves, make that up from the general fund.

Then consolidate the systems and determine sufficient and equitable water rates going forward that will pay not only for operation but maintenance, repair and improvements and charge the system residents accordingly. And then establish new development review procedures and operating policies for the county water systems that will assure this situation does not recur.

And, finally, report the results to voters by November so that voters can consider how this issue was handled when they go to the polls to elect two county commissioners. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us." We get the results we choose in the voting booth and must take responsibility for them.

Terry Burnes is a former planner and a Gardnerville Ranchos resident.