There was some dispute regarding financial issues at the Public Service District's regular meeting last week. Ricky Barkley, PSD treasurer and secretary, informed the board its current spending is already over the projected annual budget but PSD board member David Litsey said he was not concerned.

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ﾓI've went over some of the line items on the budget. A lot of them are already over budget only six months into the [fiscal] year. A lot of it was maintenance, maintenance of the collection systems. We budgeted it at $5,700 a year, we already spent $18,000. Maintenance of structures and improvements; $3,100 was budgeted, we already spent $4,974. Legal services we budgeted at $58,000, we already spent $59,000,ﾔ said Barkley. ﾓIf we keep going the way we are, my projection is we spent $800,000 plus $90,000 in bills, that is almost $900,000 for six months, if we spend that much in the next six months we'll have to raise rates at least 50 percent.ﾔ

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Litsey reminded the board this is the first year that they have taken a new approach to its project spending.

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ﾓWe switched over from billing in advance to billing in arrears. There is something in the neighborhood of $60,000 that should be coming in this month. As you hear these numbers, there's something important to know, we maintain about $80,000 in back-up accounts,ﾔ said Litsey.

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ﾓNo, we don't. I have to correct you there, there is no other reserve account,ﾔ said Barkley.

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Litsey attributed the budget concerns to the cost of legal counsel.

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ﾓIn some aspects it is an inevitable consequence of continued litigation. That's a choice that other people have brought to us. I don't have any problem with it. There are a couple of things that I think we can do. We are in really good shape, we're just now collecting $186,000 for services that were paid for already by us,ﾔ said Litsey.

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Board member Tom Shipley agreed with Litsey but suggested a careful approach financially as the project progresses.

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ﾓThese expenses that we have incurred have come with a great benefit but we have to be cautious as we go forward,ﾔ said Shipley.

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Litsey suggested a more aggressive approach to collecting past due accounts from rate payers.

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ﾓYeah it's tight, but we need to be determined and go after some of these folks that have accumulated thousands of dollars in bills that are just sliding,ﾔ said Litsey.

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The high cost of maintenance issues was addressed by the board. Shipley asked Lloyd Coleman, manager of the wastewater facility, about the condition of the existing pumps.

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ﾓI think I've mentioned it a couple times, the big maintenance issues for the last year, year-and-a-half have been the aerators. You know, they've run 24/7 for 13 years. I think we've found out what they're useful lifespan is because every couple of weeks we have another problem,ﾔ said Coleman.

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Litsey made a motion to address the finances during a special work session in the new year.

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ﾓI would move that we table the accounts payable until a special meeting in January to see exactly where we are, then we'll pay it and move on,ﾔ said Litsey.

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Litsey reminded the board of the progress they made in 2011.

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ﾓI look forward to the expression on some people's faces that have made a lot of accusations, when they find out there haven't been any environmental violations for the last eight straight months,ﾔ said Litsey.

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ﾓI think we owe a lot of that to our employees,ﾔ said board member Amon Tracey.

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Things heated up toward the end of the meeting when the board discussed a recent DEP memorandum criticizing the board's progress.

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ﾓYou need to get a grasp on what this is going to end up costing people,ﾔ Litsey told Shipley.

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ﾓI have a grasp, David, please be respectful, we're just having a discussion. If I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong and tell me why, but I do have a grasp,ﾔ said Shipley.

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The special work session scheduled for January 4 will address the DEP memorandum which suggested the resignation of board member David Litsey because of an alleged personal financial interest in the project and ﾓthe poor effort made by the District to meet the requirements of DEP in submitting this alternative plan.ﾔ

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ﾓI think that the board itself doesn't have the power to make that decision, I think in the next week or so, the board will ask the county commission for a special meeting and we are going to advise the county commission of all the issues and concerns that were raised in the DEP/PSC filings, and that issue will possibly be addressed ﾗ I would say likely be addressed. The county commission appointed the board members, so it is in their power to make such a decision,ﾔ said Shipley.

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ﾓThey have questions and concerns,ﾔ said Shipley in a phone interview after the meeting. ﾓWe're going to answer those questions and address those concerns. The hours and days between our last meeting and our next work session will be to talk to our engineer and talk to some of the state agency reps and get an idea of ability and the time it would take to get these questions and concerns answered. We'll take that information to our meeting and talk amongst the board to make the decisions.ﾔ

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The PSD has only 10 days to respond to the DEP memorandum from the day it was filed, December 23.

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ﾓThe PSC rules are that if someone makes a filing and you're a party to the case, you have 10 days to respond so you can get your side of the story in. I think they have holidays and weekends, I'm not an expert in that matter but our attorney I'm sure is very well aware of the due date,ﾔ he said. ﾓBoards are faced with complicated and important issues, this is what boards do, they work through these things.ﾔ

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Shipley believes progress was made during the meeting last week.

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ﾓI thought it was productive,ﾔ he said. ﾓWe had some serious issues we're facing and they're difficult ones. I felt that we thoroughly addressed the issues before us in a productive way. We have more work to do and we're going to go about it. We're going to work at it diligently so we can do the best job we can.ﾔ