Water Bond or $79 Million in Certificates of Obligation

Let's Practice Wise Water Management Instead of Soaking the Taxpayers Certificates of Obligations are like an ATM Machine from Your Pocket
Print this page Let’s Practice Wise Water Management Instead of Soaking the Taxpayers City of Cleburne officials are set to try to sell you $79 million in bonds for water system improvements. They are taking the usual approach – throw more (taxpayer) money at the problem and it will go away. They need to take a system overhaul approach. There are several aspects of the problem that need to be examined. For the past several years the city has increased water and sewer rates two to four times more than the rate of inflation. One of their arguments for these excessive increases is that they must build a reserve to maintain and improve the system. Where did that reserve go? If it is there, why do we need a bond passed? If it is not there, then who got it? Water rate charges need to be changed. The current rate structure is regressive and encourages waste. The more water used, the lower the rate. Twice Matt Snider has presented a proposal to the city council to change the rate structure so the more water used, the higher the rate. That makes a lot of sense. Consumers who conserve water would be rewarded with a lower rate. Big users would have to pay their own way instead of being subsidized by small users on fixed incomes. Monthly water use by the small household is less than one gas well tanker full, yet the small household pays four times more for their water than the driller pays for a tanker full of water. Water conservation needs to be implemented. Conservation should include timely maintenance and repair throughout the system. Closely controlled and monitored distribution should be implemented. More storage of ground water is needed. A good idea is to build another lake to augment water supplied from Lake Pat. A bad idea is to raise the level of Lake Pat. Consumer education and awareness is also important. Water is one of our most precious resources. Yet we use it mainly to carry waste. We use treated water from the tap to water our lawns and wash pesticides down the drains. This water then is transported back to the purification plant and re-purified and sent back through the tap so we can use it to flush our toilets. I know this system can’t be changed immediately, but some forward thinkers should put their minds to it. We as consumers are thoughtlessly wasteful. We turn on the hot water and wait for it to get hot, then we turn on the cold water and wait for it to get cold, then we watch it run while we lather our hands or step out of the shower to get a towel. We have always been blessed with plenty of water. Perhaps we should start on a trek through the desert carrying all the water we’ll use for a day. Having lived as an adult in a house in the country without a water system for a while, I really appreciate how much body you can wash with a teacup of water. My wife, having lived as a child on a farm where water had to be carried from the pump also has an appreciation of using water wisely. Water conservation and management can be and needs to be implemented. The City of Phoenix, Arizona has shown how well conservation works. During the past 12 years Phoenix has had a population increase of 350,000. (Its population is now about 1.5 million total.) However, total water usage is the same now as it was 12 years ago. Cleburne could learn something from Phoenix. So how do we get funds for maintenance and improvement? We do not need $79 million of bonds. A proper rate structure will go a long way toward providing needed funds. Fund 21 (oil and gas income) can be used to help fund water system improvements. This would benefit everyone in Cleburne and be a much better use of Fund 21 than wasting it on the $6 million addition to the Municipal Golf Course which is used by less than 1% of the Cleburne population. A favorite trick of politicians is to exaggerate the future population growth to panic the voters into spending more than needed. A prime example of this is the recent school bond and the unnecessary construction of three new elementary schools. Voters were told by CISD that school enrollment would increase at a rate of 155 students per year between 2004 and 2014. The actual increase has been only a fraction of that. Even with the gas boom, the increase this past year was only 18 students. Another growth scare is the fabled Highway 121. For about 20 years we have been told that 121 is coming and bringing unbelievable growth with it. Yes, 121 will eventually come, but the growth will be much smaller and much slower than we are being led to believe. The politicians may try to sneak the bonds past the voters without allowing them to vote on them. This can be done by the deceitful and underhanded method of issuing the bonds as Certificates of Obligation. Politician Mayor Ted Reynolds assured me that “this is too big to issue COs.” City Finance Director Greg Wilmore told the Times-Review newspaper that these bonds could be issued as COs, thus avoiding a public vote. Technically the city can do that, but morally and democratically the voters must be allowed to make that decision. Mayor Reynolds and the city council should bring this bond issue before the voters. But before that, city staff needs to earn their recent excessive pay raise (about 3 times the rate of inflation) by going back to the drawing board to implement a better rate structure, conservation and funding options. They should take a “system approach” instead of a “soak the taxpayer” approach. Alden Nellis 603 S. Walnut Cleburne, TX 76033 817-641-9646

Let's Practice Wise Water Management Instead of Soaking the Taxpayers

Certificates of Obligations are like an ATM Machine from Your Pocket

Let’s Practice Wise Water Management
Instead of Soaking the Taxpayers

City of Cleburne officials are set to try to sell you $79 million in bonds for water system improvements. They are taking the usual approach – throw more (taxpayer) money at the problem and it will go away. They need to take a system overhaul approach.

There are several aspects of the problem that need to be examined.

For the past several years the city has increased water and sewer rates two to four times more than the rate of inflation. One of their arguments for these excessive increases is that they must build a reserve to maintain and improve the system. Where did that reserve go? If it is there, why do we need a bond passed? If it is not there, then who got it?

Water rate charges need to be changed. The current rate structure is regressive and encourages waste. The more water used, the lower the rate. Twice Matt Snider has presented a proposal to the city council to change the rate structure so the more water used, the higher the rate. That makes a lot of sense. Consumers who conserve water would be rewarded with a lower rate. Big users would have to pay their own way instead of being subsidized by small users on fixed incomes. Monthly water use by the small household is less than one gas well tanker full, yet the small household pays four times more for their water than the driller pays for a tanker full of water.

Water conservation needs to be implemented. Conservation should include timely maintenance and repair throughout the system. Closely controlled and monitored distribution should be implemented. More storage of ground water is needed. A good idea is to build another lake to augment water supplied from Lake Pat. A bad idea is to raise the level of Lake Pat.

Consumer education and awareness is also important. Water is one of our most precious resources. Yet we use it mainly to carry waste. We use treated water from the tap to water our lawns and wash pesticides down the drains. This water then is transported back to the purification plant and re-purified and sent back through the tap so we can use it to flush our toilets. I know this system can’t be changed immediately, but some forward thinkers should put their minds to it.

We as consumers are thoughtlessly wasteful. We turn on the hot water and wait for it to get hot, then we turn on the cold water and wait for it to get cold, then we watch it run while we lather our hands or step out of the shower to get a towel.

We have always been blessed with plenty of water. Perhaps we should start on a trek through the desert carrying all the water we’ll use for a day. Having lived as an adult in a house in the country without a water system for a while, I really appreciate how much body you can wash with a teacup of water. My wife, having lived as a child on a farm where water had to be carried from the pump also has an appreciation of using water wisely.

Water conservation and management can be and needs to be implemented. The City of Phoenix, Arizona has shown how well conservation works. During the past 12 years Phoenix has had a population increase of 350,000. (Its population is now about 1.5 million total.) However, total water usage is the same now as it was 12 years ago. Cleburne could learn something from Phoenix.

So how do we get funds for maintenance and improvement? We do not need $79 million of bonds. A proper rate structure will go a long way toward providing needed funds. Fund 21 (oil and gas income) can be used to help fund water system improvements. This would benefit everyone in Cleburne and be a much better use of Fund 21 than wasting it on the $6 million addition to the Municipal Golf Course which is used by less than 1% of the Cleburne population.

A favorite trick of politicians is to exaggerate the future population growth to panic the voters into spending more than needed. A prime example of this is the recent school bond and the unnecessary construction of three new elementary schools. Voters were told by CISD that school enrollment would increase at a rate of 155 students per year between 2004 and 2014. The actual increase has been only a fraction of that. Even with the gas boom, the increase this past year was only 18 students.

Another growth scare is the fabled Highway 121. For about 20 years we have been told that 121 is coming and bringing unbelievable growth with it. Yes, 121 will eventually come, but the growth will be much smaller and much slower than we are being led to believe.

The politicians may try to sneak the bonds past the voters without allowing them to vote on them. This can be done by the deceitful and underhanded method of issuing the bonds as Certificates of Obligation. Politician Mayor Ted Reynolds assured me that “this is too big to issue COs.” City Finance Director Greg Wilmore told the Times-Review newspaper that these bonds could be issued as COs, thus avoiding a public vote. Technically the city can do that, but morally and democratically the voters must be allowed to make that decision.

Mayor Reynolds and the city council should bring this bond issue before the voters. But before that, city staff needs to earn their recent excessive pay raise (about 3 times the rate of inflation) by going back to the drawing board to implement a better rate structure, conservation and funding options. They should take a “system approach” instead of a “soak the taxpayer” approach.

Alden Nellis
603 S. Walnut
Cleburne, TX 76033
817-641-9646