Community activist Ron Pace wants residents to be aware of the issues facing the Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District. What started as a recall election changed gears when board members Bob Sobota and David Hahn resigned after the Nov. 20 board meeting.Pace said he will no longer seek a recall, but there are several issues left to address. “There are a lot of people who don’t like me because I wanted a recall,” Pace said. “But we have rights and one of them is if you don’t like something you have a right to change it. We’ll keep moving forward because the larger goal is to cut our budget, renegotiate our bonds and lower our water bills so that Woodmen Hills becomes attractive to other people who want to buy a house here.”The new WHMD rate schedule, available at www.woodmenhillsdistrictboard.info, shows a rate increase of 7.5 percent for sewer, street lights and parks and recreation; effective Jan. 1. Water fees will increase 41 percent because of a restructuring of the charges.According to the Web site, Woodmen Hills residents currently pay a $25.48 water usage fee, which includes up to 7,500 gallons of water. Under the new billing system, residents will pay a water usage base rate fee of $15 and an additional 28 cents per 100 gallons of water, up to 7,500 gallons. If a household uses the full 7,500 gallons of water, they will pay $21, increasing the total water charge for 7,500 gallons to $36 per month.”If you are using water, your rates could potentially go up 100 bucks a month. We’re headed toward bills of $200 a month,” Pace said. He said he worries that high water rates will stigmatize the community, with residents unable to afford to water their yards and potential buyers avoiding homes in Woodmen Hills.Pace, who also is a member of the WHMD budget committee, said he made proposals to the board in October to decrease the district budget. He said he is concerned that while claiming to cut costs the district leased a $200,000 water truck and has one of the highest employee compensation rates in the area. “Cut out some of the pension, cut out some of the benefits packages, stop taking vehicles home and use some of the money we have saved up to pay off some of our debt,” Pace said.Larry Bishop, WHMD manager, said the rate increase is necessary to keep the district financially solvent as expenses and debt services increase next year.”The debt was incurred so that the district in its infancy could build the infrastructure – the waste water plant, water filtration plant, all the piping and the additional debt for parks and rec.,” Bishop said. The bonds total about $21 million, with interest rates on the bonds topping out at 8 percent by July 2009, he said.When he joined the district, Bishop said he looked at the bonds and tried to refinance for a better rate; but, without the express permission of the bondholders, he was unable to move forward.Bishop said he recognizes the economy is bad, not just for the district but also for the people living in the district. “People see a greedy district manager wanting to take money out of their pocket and for what – why can’t he live with less?” Bishop said. “Our budget is lean and mean. We’ve been cutting and slicing and dicing to keep the district moving.”He said WHMD can’t cut anymore and is facing several challenges on the horizon, including a state law requiring the district to transition the waste water system from a lagoon system to a treatment plant by 2014. Bishop said the project will cost $11 million.If residents are tired of rate increases, Bishop said they should consider subsidizing district assessments through a mill levy. “As a resident, I would prefer a mill levy because when I go to file my federal income tax, I get a portion of that (mill levy tax) back,” he said. “Whether I get a refund or not, at least my income tax will be reduced by the amount of taxes I am paying to the district.” Mill levies will historically keep user fees reasonable, he added.Bishop said the district can’t make it through next year without the rate increase, but he wants to revise the water fees from a 41 percent increase down to 7.5 percent. Bishop asked the WHMD board at the Nov. 20 meeting to rescind the $15 base rate and return the rate schedule to include the base rate of 7,500 gallons at $27.39. After discussion by the board, the motion to revise the rate schedule was tabled.The rate revision was not the only disagreement between WHMD board members at the Nov. 20 meeting. “I’ve never seen a board behave like this,” said Woodmen Hills resident, Robert Lovato. “When you consistently have a 3-2 split along the same lines, there is something wrong; it could be that there are some hidden agendas.”Lovato said the board needs to communicate better with the community, and he encouraged the board to set egos aside and consider resigning. “The community is now together. The board has to start working together or the community will start screaming loud,” he said.Jan Pizzi, WHMD board member, said the Hahn and Sobota’s resignations after the Nov. 20 meeting were unexpected and can be a good opportunity for the board to rebuild and connect with the community. The changes also come at a busy time for her, while she is focused on the transition of the Woodmen Hills East Recreation Center, formerly run by the YMCA.Pizzi said announcements for the board openings will go out in the next water bill, and the board will appoint new members to fill the vacancies.”Everything may be changing,” Pizzi said. The board is meeting with the bondholders to restructure the bonds, and Pizzi said she anticipates a change in the water rates after a Dec. 3 budget meeting.”I think the recall opened the eyes of a lot of home owners,” said Hope Thompson, Woodmen Hills resident. She attended the recall meeting held by Ron Pace Nov. 19 and also attended the Nov. 20 WHMD board meeting.”I was not aware of what had been going on and was trying to gather the facts and separate them from the emotion,” Thompson said. “After the board meeting, I would have been in favor of the recall.”Thompson said the new board needs to listen to the residents’ concerns, including the necessity of the district’s water truck, renegotiating the bonds and the district manager’s salary and evaluating the neighborhood covenants.”The board needs to turn every stone over to reduce the budget before proposing a rate increase,” Thompson said.
