The rate increase proposed by the city of Española on water and sewer customers is again, way out of line. The enterprise fund is the biggest money-maker for the city, raking in enough to cover costs for the water department and then some.
It’s that “then some” the city is after. In 2003 when the voters passed the one-eighth plus two-eighths gross receipts tax on goods bought in the city, it was supposed to be the answer to our water and wastewater problems. Actually it was just the beginning of our problems.
In true Española politics style, the city immediately started misusing the money, against state law. First the city paid Robert Seeds $10,000 out of the water and wastewater fund when the city was fined by District Court Judge Timothy Garcia because the city wasn’t moving within the time constraints Garcia had set up.
The SUN caught the city and a rambling excuse about wrong fund, misdirected money, account code ensued. We knew we were going to have to watch the city closely as the fund generates a lot of money. How much money it generates annually and how much has been spent is now a matter of pure speculation. The fund is in such a mess, the city has actually hired a contract employee to try to account for the inflows and outflows of the fund.
The problem is they need an accountant to untangle the revenue and expense streams.
While we don’t know how much the city has lost, illegally moved or wasted from the fund we do know a few other things. Some of the money ($7 million) was used for the sewer plant expansion, water lines on Lamb and Pacheco streets and work on some wells. That’s great, because that was the way it was sold to voters.
We also know the city is using it to pay down debt and keep engineers happy doing lots of useless studies. The name that continually pops up on the 10-page list of expenditures is engineering firm Molzen Corbin and Associates. Right behind them is Souder Miller, another engineering firm and then Western Summit.
The city has spent a lot of taxpayer money studying nothing. Molzen Corbin raked in $480,000 from 2006 through 2008. Souder Miller made $65,000 during 2008.
The fact that no one really knows how much has gone into or flown out of the fund doesn’t bother city officials. It would actually take some effort to perform proper accounting on the fund. Interim city manager/city clerk Veronica Albin asked rhetorically, “Is it worth doing? I don’t know. That would be painful.”
Sometimes doing things right is painful but that’s what she is paid for and that’s part of the duties of this band of city councilors. It is their duty to perform those pesky, painful tasks and tell taxpayers where their money is.
No one should be even discussing raising water and sewer rates until the city can construct a true picture of the state of the water tax fund.