Chris Roden, general manager of the Lewis County Public Utility District, listens to comments made Tuesday during a public hearing related to the proposed 2019 PUD budget.
The Lewis County Public Utility District Board of Commissioners heard less than favorable comments from members of the public during their meeting Tuesday at a public hearing for the utility’s proposed 2019 budget, which includes 5 percent rate increase for the coming year.
The rate increase, for which residential consumers would pay an extra $4-5 per month on average, is needed to help close a $2.5 million gap between projected revenues and expenditures contained in the 2019 budget document.
Bob McCormick and Steve Grega, both former Lewis County PUD employees, thought a better answer to the budget shortages would be to cut spending and shut down what they saw as excess spending habits that have eaten away at PUD reserves.
“As a ratepayer, I’d like some accountability from the commissioners,” McCormick said. “Ratepayers from previous years need to become outraged again. … When are you commissioners going to rein yourselves in and be accountable to the ratepayers?”
McCormick went on to deride the salary and benefits contained in Roden’s contract, which includes an annual base salary of $200,000 and more than $1,500 in deferred compensation each month.
“It’s just a crying shame that you guys gave away excessive raises to get the new manager, and I personally don’t think you have the ability to earn it,” McCormick said, directing the last bit at Roden, who sat about 15 feet away.
District staff, including Roden, cited additional expenses incurred by the renewable energy requirements of the Energy Independence Act, or Initiative 937, passed by Washington voters in 2006 that requires utilities to obtain 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources such as solar and wind, but not hydroelectric power, by 2020. Roden has also led efforts to make cuts from the budget, such as reducing funds available for tree trimming and capital projects.
Even with the rate increase, reserve funds will be needed to plug the remaining $209,000 hole and balance the budget. Uncertainty still looms large for the financials of Lewis County PUD, with carbon pricing initiatives set to dominate state politics again next year and the impending closure of the TransAlta power plant, the only coal-fired plant in Washington, set to take place between 2020 and 2025.
“We want to be able to take a 10-year look at things when we do the budget,” Roden said. “I think it’s natural with the transition that it caused some compression of the budget process. We’re going to go back and look at everything identified by our customers as concerns they have. It would be a disservice not to do that.”
To that end, Roden plans to work with his department heads to overhaul the annual budget process so that it takes place in August or September rather than November and December.
The board did take any action related to the proposed budget or rate hike during Tuesday’s meeting. It could not have adopted the rate increase, because it was the first of two required public hearings for such an item.
The next board meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the the PUD’s offices in Morton.
