MWRD Board Passes $1.2B Budget With No Discussion

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Board Meeting - December 13, 2018
                  Public Hearing on the Proposed Budget on December 6, 2018

By an 8-0 vote, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation Board took just 15 minutes to approve 11 items which resulted in a $1,203,988,541 budget for 2019.  This is $53 million more than 2018, or a 4.6% increase.  The property tax levy was raised to $643 million, an increase over 2018 of $20 million, or 3.3%.  There was no discussion.  (Commissioner Morita was absent.)

Next Step:  The Board will consider amendments to the 2019 budget at the December 20 meeting, at which time the 2019 budget will be finalized.

Relevant Comments from December 6 Public Hearing on the Proposed Budget
The 2019 Budget that was passed on December 13 included a number of changes from the Tentative Budget Recommendation by the MWRD Executive Director dated October 13, and additional changes from the 2019 Tentative Budget published on November 20 (which reflected amendments to the October 13 Executive Director’s Recommendation).

At the December 6 Public Hearing, the Civic Federation, while overall supportive of the proposed budget, pointed out how confusing and difficult it is to review and comment on this ever-changing budget.  The Civic Federation’s recommendation was that the final form of the budget that is to be considered by the Board should be published and made available to the public ahead of time.  This is particularly important, said the Civic Federation, because the version of the budget passed by the Board often includes significant increases in the total appropriations and property tax levy from those contained in the Executive Director’s original recommendation, as well as from the Tentative Budget.

In this case, the version passed by the Board on December 13 varied from both the October 13 and November 20 versions (which is the version the Civic Federation reviewed and commented on) in a number of ways, including:

                                          December 13               October 13                  November 20
Total Appropriations:    $1,203,988,541           $1,079,658,141                $1,092,299,141
Tax Levy:                       $   642,783,809          $  640,649,270              $   640,649,270

The Civic Federation also recommended that the MWRD analyze the effect on its pension funding and have fall-back plans in case the District’s pension reform law were to be successfully challenged.

Observer - Priscilla Mims