Prior to the November Woodmen Hills Metropolitan Districtís Board of Directors meeting, the board met for executive session ñ no action was taken. The board opened the public meeting with a draft of the 2014 budget.Lynne Bliss, resident, questioned several items on the budget that were significantly higher than last yearís budget for the same items. Robert Lovato, vice president of the board, said many of those discrepancies related to the districtís reorganization in January.The reorganization separated district operations into three enterprise factions: water/wastewater, administration and parks and recreation, according to the February 2013 issue of The New Falcon Herald. Some costs from the 2013 budget were split among the three separate enterprises, which will fall under the 2014 budget as one, Lovato said. Also, one enterprise subsidized another and that will no longer be the case for 2014, he said.The directors agreed that saving money still needed to be a priority for the new budget year, especially in the parks and recreation department. ìIn 2014, we need to do a complete cost analysis,î Lovato said. ìThe parks and rec budget doesnít show what are fixed costs and what are variable costs. I would rather see each program individually to see what the true cost is, but right now we just canít.îTo cut costs, the recreation center east and the community center west will close from noon to 4 p.m. every day, excluding the fall, holiday, spring and summer breaks, said Eddie Avedikian, parks and recreation director.The directors approved a special meeting for Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. at the community center west to finalize the budget. Action on a proposed resolution regarding rate increases was postponed until the Dec. 10 meeting. The proposed rate increases include the following: monthly park and recreation fees would increase by 6 percent, and programs would increase by 17 percent; monthly water fees would increase 2.5 percent and tiered water usage fees would increase by 7.5 percent; and monthly wastewater fees would increase by 9.35 percent.Lovato said those increases are the only ones that will affect homeowners.The board unanimously approved a resolution for certification of delinquent accounts to the El Paso County treasurerís office. Evan Ela, board attorney, said that under the Colorado statute, water and sewer fees totaling $150 or more that havenít been paid for six months can be sent to the county treasurerís office for collection.Avedikian updated the board on activities in his department, and said they installed a new camera behind the recreation center east, facing the shed, to monitor activities behind the building 24/7. Gene Cozzolino, water and wastewater director, presented a resident opt-out agreement for the new transmitters installed on meters throughout the community. At the October board meeting, he provided pricing on the costs to homeowners to remove the transponder and avoid radio transmission of meter reads. The cost, which totals $245, includes $170 for the transponder and $25 for a new meter read dial; the remaining amount will cover the cost of the service call to have the work done, he said.The agreement also included a $54.22 fee for manual maintenance of the new meter, Cozzolino said. The board unanimously approved the agreement, with the stipulation that the item be re-evaluated in three months.Lisa Peterson, administration director, presented information on a new web-based payment module that allows residents to pay their bill online. The system is similar to the process used by Mountain View Electric Association, she said. Residents can sign up for automatic payments or receive electronic bills, rather than paper bills. All bill-pay services are available at no cost, Peterson said.The board entered into executive session following the public portion of the meeting.The next regular WHMD board meeting is Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Woodmen Hills Community Center West.
