Jan. 18, 2002 – The Water and Power Authority board heard some good news Thursday, some not so good, and some that was downright unwelcome.
Projections for water revenues for the year are down, electric revenues are forecast to be slightly up, and WAPA should have received payment of all the central government delinquent accounts by next week, according to Joseph Thomas, WAPA executive director.
Government agencies, however, still owe almost $10 million, he said. The Housing Authority, the government's biggest consumer, owes $6 million. One of the reasons water revenue projections are down for the year is the closing last year of the Donoe housing project.
Thomas said housing communities consume as much as 200 gallons of water per day per person, compared to a national average of 50 gallons per day. Attorney General and board member Iver Stridiron said it is "common knowledge" that people take advantage of project water. "Their relatives and friends come in to wash their cars and do laundry," he said.
Public housing community residents are not charged individually for water, a situation Thomas would like to change.
Robert Vodzack, WAPA chief financial officer, said the authority is projected to see a $1 million reduction in water sales for the first six months of this fiscal year and a savings in payroll and reduced fuel expenses related to the reduced sales of $500,000.
Vodzack said the authority's electric budget for FY 2002 assumes net income of $3.4 million on total electric sales of $113.7 million. The forecast net income is $4.1 million. He said the primary reasons for the increase are savings of $800,000 in payroll and $400,000 in other non-maintenance operating expenses.
Gift barge unwanted
The unwelcome issue was the need to deal with an unwanted gift WAPA got in December from the 24th Legislature. In a hastily added amendment from Sen. Celestino White, senators voted to give the authority the derelict desalinization barge that had been given to the government by the U.S. Navy several years ago but had been left unused and unmaintained for years.
Last year the Public Works Department leased the floating desal plant to a private Jost Van Dyke water company owned by Stridiron's brother-in-law, then took it back when the move drew sparks in the Legislature.
Then the Property and Procurement Department took over control of the barge, with Commissioner Marc Biggs saying he would form a committee to "determine what is the best plan for using this valuable resource." Since September, it has been sitting in Krum Bay.
As with many an unwanted gift, the WAPA board has no use for it. Thomas said a maritime insurance rider is needed for it to be put into operation. Public Works has a $25,000 insurance liability cap but the authority has no such ceiling, Thomas said.
He added that an analysis indicates the cost of producing water from the barge would be three times that of production from the WAPA's most expensive source, and five times its average cost of production. The board is looking into returning the desal plan to the federal government.
Turning to recent power outages, Thomas said communication to the public about the problems could have been handled better with a less-antiquated telephone system. He said he foresees getting an automated system which will respond to callers' inquiries identifying which feeder is out and giving a reasonable time for return of service. Public information officer Patricia Blake Simmonds "is literally down at the plant, and she gets message out to the media immediately," he said, unless phones and faxes are down.
Public Services Commission concerns
The WAPA board will have another matter to address when the Public Services Commission holds hearings starting Jan. 25 on the bid by Caribe Waste Technologies to become a "certified" provider of power. Late last year, WAPA rejected CWT's proposal to have the utility purchase electricity and power generated in the processing of the territory's solid wastes in a gasification process. Among other reasons for opposing the idea, Thomas argued that the technology is not "commercially proven."
Ronald Russell, a St. Croix attorney who is suing WAPA on one case with another possible, is a hearing examiner for the PSC. Thomas and WAPA legal counsel Kathy Smith see that as a conflict of interest and filed objections to have Russell removed as examiner. Smith said the commission has "ignored" the objection.
"Because the PSC didn't respond, we have not submitted information for a rate study," Smith said, and WAPA has submitted the matter to Judge I've Swan for legal review.
Stridiron said Russell should have recused himself from any examining work involving WAPA.
Thomas is appearing before the Senate Government Operations Committee on St. Croix Friday to discuss financing for the territorial street lighting program that has just been transferred to WAPA's jurisdiction from Public Works. Thomas wants a surcharge of $1.80 a month on residential electric bills to ensure a reliable source of funding for the street lighting, an idea opposed by several senators. Committee chair Emmett Hansen II has suggested using a percentage of property taxes to fund the program.
In internal matters Thursday, the board heard a complaint from board member Claude "Tappy" Molloy that fellow board member Andrew Rutnik, Licensing and Consumer Affairs commissioner, not assume the position of temporary chair of the WAPA Finance Committee. The position was recently vacated when Arthur Downing resigned from the board.
Molloy called it at "blatant conflict of interest" for Rutnik to take the position even temporarily because the PSC comes under the auspices of DCLA. Board chair Carole Burke said she would have the board's legal counsel look into the matter.
Board members attending the meeting were Burke, Alphonso Franklin, Gerard Luz James, William Lomax, Molloy, Rutnik and Stridiron. Ira M. Hobson, Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner, was absent. There is one board vacancy.
