The current Directors of the Water District are considering a $7 million 25 year bond to begin addressing the need to replace the oldest water lines in Windcrest. Whether or not the bond will be voted on by the current Directors is unknown. It probably will not be ready until after the election, so your opinion on whether or not to do the bond can be influenced by who you elect to be on the Board of Directors on November 6th.
To get the most out of our money, it would be advisable to do at least a $1 million project to start with. This allows the Water District to get the best price on materials and have several contractors bid on the project. I have listed below the revenue available for projects over the next 5 years as the water rate will be increasing yearly until 2023.
2018: $389,443
2019: $461,701
2020: $546,063
2021: $634,991
2022: $727,970
5 Year Total: $2,760,168
My understanding would be that we could begin a project sometime next year without a bond. If a bond was issued by the Board of Directors, we could start sooner. Over the 25 year life of the $7 million bond, the interest will total $4.92 million. Interest rates are currently low, so if we were going to do a bond, this would be the time. Unless we plan to do almost $7 million worth of infrastructure rebuilding projects fairly soon, I do not understand the need for the bond.
Based on the Projected Cash-Flow Analysis, we will have $18.82 million of revenue to spend on projects over the next 25 years, until 2043. That doesn't include any future water rate increases from 2023-2043. All the financial information above was obtained from David Wallace, the General Manager of the Water District, and is freely available to any citizen or customer. I hope this information will be helpful to you in deciding who to elect to the Water District Board of Directors.
If anyone has any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you, even if you have differing opinions. I believe we make the best decisions when we are fully informed and willing to listen to new information.
