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05/22/2001 - Budget Minutes TIGARD WATER DISTRICT BUDGET MEETING May 22, 2001 Members Present: George Rhine, Norman Penner, Beverly Froude, Doreen Hames, Noel Johnson, and Ron Baker Staff Present: Craig Prosser, Ed Wegner, Twila Willson Visitors Present: Mary Stobbe and Bruce Stobbe 1. Call to Order The Tigard Water District Budget Meeting for fiscal year 2001-2002 was called to order by the appointed budget officer, Commissioner George Rhine, at 6:07 p.m. 2. Roll Call and Introductions Staff called roll. Gretchen Buehner and David Strauss were not present. David Strauss was excused. Gretchen Buehner's written resignation has still not been received. Mike Shirley and Faye Witherspoon were not present. Commissioner Rhine welcomed the participants and thanked the citizens who serve on the budget committee. Doreen Hames, Mike Shirley and Noel Johnson are serving the last year of their appointed three-year term. This is the second year of the appointed three-year term for Ron Baker and Faye Witherspoon. Faye Witherspoon has asked to be relieved of her duties due to health problems. 3. Appointment of Budget Committee At Commissioner Rhine's request, Ed Wegner proceeded to give a brief background on the Tigard Water System. The Tigard Water District receives water services through the Tigard Water Service System, which is operated by the City of Tigard. Referring to a map, Mr. Wegner showed the four entities within the service area. The Tigard Water System services most of the City of Tigard as well as residents of the cities of Durham and King City and the unincorporated surrounding area. A small portion of the City of Tigard is serviced by the Tualatin Valley Water District. The Tigard Water District, also known as the unincorporated area, is the area that the Budget Committee represents. That budget does not include the operation of the water system such as replacement of water mains, which would be handled by the operational staff. The budget does include such things as newsletters and insurance, etc. Tigard Water District 1 May 22,2001 Budget Meeting The four major entities (Tigard, Durham, King City and the unincorporated area) each have a representative that makes up a policy-making board known as the Intergovernmental Water Board (IWB), which was established in 1993. Norm Penner is the TWD representative on the IWB Board. The IWB meets regularly with staff to discuss long term water supplies and capital improvement plan expenditures. The IWB acts as an advisory body. Resolutions from each governing agency would be needed to decide on the long term water supply source. The Tigard City Council does all the formal action for the service area, but always asks if the IWB is in agreement. The money for the budget is received from the water sales. One percent is returned to each of the governmental entities, excluding Tigard, on an annual basis to use for their operational needs. Ron Baker asked when the Walnut Island annexation took place. Mr. Wegner told him it took place one year ago. Mr. Wegner continued talking about annexation. The areas that will be annexed into the City of Tigard in the future will come from the unincorporated area. That area will get smaller geographically as annexations take place. The unincorporated area is growing faster than the rest of Tigard, King City or Durham keeping revenues up now, but money will eventually diminish as areas are annexed. The TWD governing board eventually will not exist. 4. 2001/2002 Fiscal Year Budget Discussion Craig Prosser reviewed the budget items. Resources • Revenues — anticipated to remain constant with the rate increase Expenditures — propose a reduction • Attorney fees — have not spent anything to date; propose reducing to $500 All other line items are consistent with the previous fiscal budget. Money has been budgeted for: • Public Relations —for newsletter or informational brochures ($1068.00 spent to date) • Special District Association Dues — annual dues • Special District Association Conference — to cover annual conference fees • Travel/Food & Lodging —for the board's expenses at the annual conference Meeting and Staff Support expenses are reconciled at the end of the fiscal year (covers expenses for Mike Miller, Ed Wegner, and Twila Willson). Advertising and Publicity, to date, is lower than budgeted for. There is a 10% contingency that could be accessed through a budget amendment and moved to another line item, if necessary. Mr. Wegner said that typically the Tigard Water District 2 May 22,2001 Budget Meeting TWD has a hard time spending money because the water fees pay for all the maintenance and operation of the system. Commissioner Penner added that Board members are entitled to an honorarium although they never have collected one. Ron Baker asked further explanation on the contingency. Mr. Prosser explained that money could only be accessed if the Board authorizes a budget change during the year moving it to another line item. Beverly Froude asked if Mr. Wegner could see anything happening to require more newsletters. He thought nothing special at this time. His recommendation would be to produce two newsletter mailings during the fiscal year. Some people are reached through the Cityscape publications. The Tigard Water Service System would notify to all those affected if there were to be a new water supply or something similar in nature. Under the terms of the agreement, 90% of the time, water fund money is used for general notification of utility users. Water conservation messages also will be included with billing notices. The TWD may want to send as many as four small scale mailings during the year. There is not enough staff time to do more than that and it gets very cost prohibitive. Commissioner Penner was very helpful with the last newsletter that was sent out. Dennis Koellermeier is the new Utility Manager, replacing Mike Miller. He will start coming to the TWD meetings after July. He would be a good resource along with Twila to help with the newsletter information. Noel Johnson asked about the feasibility of including flyer information with the regular billings. Mr. Wegner explained that the billings are computerized and set up over a staggered eight-week cycle and overlap different areas making it impractical to directly notify in that manner. Notification of the rate increase was done this way, but that was generic in nature. Urgent messages would not work in billing notices. 5. Budget Recommendation Noel Johnson motioned to approve the proposed budget as submitted and Ron Baker seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The Finance Department will publish a copy of the proposed budget in the legal section. The Tigard Water District will meet next month to approve the budget. 6. Adjournment Commissioner Rhine thanked the budget committee for their participation. The Tigard Water District Budget Committee meeting was adjourned at 6:38 p.m. Tigard Water District 3 May 22,2001 Budget Meeting