Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District 2000 Annual Report

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Highlights Continued The District Board directed staff to investigate the feasibility of having the District assume the O &M chores for the water diversion and storage features. The study should be complete the fall of 2001 and will help determine whether or not the District can do a cost - effective job of Project O &M. Over the last several years, the District has been critical of the Bureau of Reclamation's expensive O &M costs and the accumulation of a backlog of repairs. Also in 2000, as a part of the focus on Project O &M, the District agreed to establish an O &M reserve account that would be used to help pay for extraordinary repair items; this account will be funded by collecting a small surcharge on the sale and storage of water. These surcharges take effect in 2002. Margie Miller Joins the District Staff - The District interviewed several qualified candidates for its Compliance /Administrative Clerk position. After that process was complete, the District's General Manager hired Margie Miller to fill the post. Margie had since relocated from Denver where she worked for a group of physicians at the University Hospital in Denver. Margie is responsible for maintaining the District's records and web page, as well as the day -to day clerical work at the District. She is also responsible for Reclamation Reform Act Compliance. Margie Miller Compliance/ 2000 Budget - As 2000 unfolded, the Budget as approved for 2000 had to be Administrative Clerk revised. Due to a dry year, Project Water sales and Winter Water storage exceeded our projections, and consequently our payment to the Bureau of Reclamation exceeded the budget. Also, the timing of payments on the new building necessitated a budget change. Another big change to the budget was a modification to the handling of reserves for the Safety of Dams repairs. Since the repairs came in way under budget, the Board decided to have the Water Activity Enterprise repay the M &I portion of the expenses over a period of 10 years. The one million dollar reserve was then kept in the Enterprise to help with the anticipated expenses related to the future enlargement of Pueblo Dam. Therefore, after posting the appropriate notices, the Board of Directors approved a revised budget for 2000. For the 2000 budget -year the District Board of Directors approved two separate mill levies to meet its' repayment obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation and to operate the District. The contract - repayment mill levy was set at .783 mills and generated $3,807,030. The Operating mill levy was set at .039 and generated $189,037. Total revenues for the District amounted to $8,452,535 while expenditures totaled $8,118,860 resulting in an operating surplus of $333,675. Of these totals $6,226,235 were transfer payments paid to the Bureau of Reclamation for Project repayment, Fountain Valley Authority conduit repayment and water sales. A major accomplishment this past year was the sale of the property on Hwy 50 and the building of the new office, complete with landscaping. After considering the sale of the old office and land, the net cost for the new office and land was only $160,000. 7