About Cambria

From the Marin Voice about a week ago:

THE PEOPLE have spoken, and they want a say in whether to build a $400 million desalination plant in Marin.

The Coalition for the Public’s Right to Vote on Desalination has collected over 17,000 signatures in support of their initiative, which would require that the Marin Municipal Water District get a public vote before expending funds on a costly and questionable desalination plant.

The county Registrar of Voters is currently certifying the signatures, and if there are enough valid signatures, the measure will be on the November ballot.

Environmental and fiscal groups are united in support of this effort. The initiative was supported by the Marin Republicans and the Marin Democrats, as well as by the Surfrider Foundation and the Marin United Taxpayers Association.

Although the MMWD board members have voted unanimously to support the desal plant, they now have a chance to change course. They can issue a resolution stating that, before they start the building process and incur any further debt towards a desalination plant, they will put it to a public vote.

They can also vote to restart the Citizens Advisory Committee they have…

Read the full article here.

Or an article from the Contra Costa Times here.

Or the AP story in the San Francisco Chronicle here.

CCSD staff presented a draft budget to the Board at last month’s Cambria Community Services District meeting for the 2010-11 fiscal year. At this month’s meeting (Thursday June 24, 2010 at 12:30pm) the Board will consider adoption of the budget by resolution. A revised draft is expected in the next day or two, but in the meantime here are some of the highlights from the May 2010 draft.

The Cambria CSD has two primary income sources: Property Taxes and  Utility Sales. These are supplemented by a variety of fees, assessments, interest income, grant funds and other income sources. By state law, income from utility sales is restricted to covering expenditures in the water and wastewater departments. Property tax income is deposited to the General Fund where it is used to cover expenses for Fire, Parks and Recreation, Facilities and Resources, Administration and Resource Conservation department costs. Although General Fund monies can be used to cover costs of the water and/or wastewater departments, that practice is far from best management and recent Board policy is that General Fund money used for Water/Wastewater expenditures be accounted for as a loan that must be repaid.

I’ll leave the analysis and opinion to those of you with greater facility with numbers. What follows are charts showing the ratios of spending in various categories. The numbers are from the May 2010 proposed budget as entered into a spreadsheet and checked for accuracy. To view the spreadsheet used, click here.

Total Proposed Budget Expenditures (All Funds): $ 7,453,214.00

Total Proposed Employee Compensation, Payroll Taxes, Benefits, Allocated Personnel Costs(All Departments): $4,561,801.00

Total Proposed Professional Services (All Departments): $277,180.00 (Total 2009-10 – $314,550.00, Total 2008-09 -$297,290.00 )

The next meeting of the Cambria Community Services District is Thursday June 24, 2010 at 12:30 at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall. Highlights of the agenda are here, the full agenda is available at cambriacsd.org.

The Water Emergency Alternatives Citizens’ Committee will provide  a progress report on the committee’s work.

The Consent Agenda includes:
A. Approve Expenditures for Month of May 2010
B. Approve Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting, May 27, 2010
C. Consider Adoption of Ordinance 01-2010 Adding Provisions to the CCSD Municipal Code Establishing the Board’s Policy that New Hire Employees Pay 100% of the Employee’s Designated Share of the PERS Retirement Contribution
D. Consider Adoption of Resolution 28-2010 Authorizing Reporting the Payment of Member Contributions to the California Public Employees’
Retirement System for CCSD Management and Confidential Employees (MCE)
E. Consider Adoption of Resolution 29-2010 Approving VanScoyoc Associates Professional Services Agreement
F. Consider Adoption of Resolution 30-2010 Approving AGP Video, Inc. Professional Services Agreement
G. Consider Adoption of Resolution 31-2010 Approving TechExpress Professional Services Information Technology (IT) Agreement

HEARINGS AND APPEALS

A. Conduct Public Hearing to Consider Adoption of Resolution 32-2010 Approving the CCSD Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2010/2011

B. Public Hearing to Consider Adoption of Resolution 33-2010 Authorizing a 1.9% CPI Adjustment in the Fire Suppression Benefit Assessment

REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Receive Report by Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County on Cambria Vacant Parcel Assessment

The whole meeting (not including public comment) is estimated to take an hour and a half. Since they are considering the budget for next year and an increase in the fire benefit assessment, once again the estimated time is unlikely to be the reality. More on the budget when the board packet is available to me.