Nevada County Grand Jury • 2000-2001

Nevada Irrigation District Reason for the Investigation The Nevada County Civil Grand Jury is responsible for reviewing

7 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 7 findings

F1 Page 1
The 1998-99 Nevada County Civil Grand Jury recommended that: "NID develop a standard formula based on future delivery costs that will be used for determining future user rate adjustments. Further, the Grand Jury recommends that factors used in producing user rates be published each year."
No recommendations for this finding
F2 Page 1
The NID, in its response to the above recommendation, stated: "The District's Water Rate committee has directed staff at its May 26, 1999 meeting to prepare a request for proposal to solicit assistance in performing a cost of service study of user fees. Once this study is completed, the District will review the findings and consider adoption of the results. The anticipated completion date of the study is February 2000. At the conclusion of the study, a determination will be made as to how customers will be informed in regards to annual changes in rates and fees for services provided by the District."
No recommendations for this finding
F3 Page 1
The Cost of Service Study has not been completed and is now projected to be finished by April 2001 - 14 months later than promised. The study is being performed by Economic Engineering Services, Inc. of Bellevue, Washington. A preliminary report and interim document was to be presented to the NID Water Rates Committee on December 13, 2000 at a Board of Directors meeting.
No recommendations for this finding
F4 Page 1
Although the rate-setting study was not completed, the NID Water Rates Committee on November 29, 2000 recommended a 1.8 percent water rate increase next year in its proposal to the NID Directors.
No recommendations for this finding
F5 Page 1
At the November meeting, only one of the five members of the NID Board of Directors objected to the rate increase, stating that NID should hold off on any rate increases until the Cost of Service Study is completed as recommended by the 1998-99 Nevada County Civil Grand Jury.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Page 1
The Grand Jury recommends that the NID Board of Directors postpone implementation of any water rate increase until it has received the Cost of Service Study and has presented its contents to the public.
F6 Page 5
Information presented to the Grand Jury indicates that NID's current reserve funds have grown from $8,279,000 to $42,960,000 since 1990. Response: Agree. The Grand Jury should know that these reserves do not include the Cascade Bench Flume Replacement Project Certificates of Participation (COP's). Additionally, the Grand Jury should also be aware that these reserves are used to fund scheduled improvements/maintenance projects that have grown from $7,489,311 in 1990 to $12,537,226 in 1999 (67% increase). In addition, during the years 2000 and 2001, revenue reserves will be utilized to fund the funding deficit of the Cascade Project by approximately $5.2 million dollars.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Page 1
The Grand Jury further recommends that, if based on the above mentioned study, the Board of Directors still believes $168,000 in additional revenue is in order, funds should be taken from current reserves.
F7 Page 5
Anticipated income to be generated from the proposed 1.8 percent water rate increase is $168,000 per year. Response: Agree
No recommendations for this finding

Conclusions 2