It took the pressure of a struggling economy to convince the
Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors, some of whom
have served for decades, to carefully examine staff travel and
overtime expenses, which together added up to $1.3 million during
the first half of this year.
It took the pressure of a struggling economy to convince the Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors, some of whom have served for decades, to carefully examine staff travel and overtime expenses, which together added up to $1.3 million during the first half of this year.
Compared to two other water districts in northern California, SCVWD spent more on travel expenses but less on overtime wages on a per employee basis during the six-month time period.
“We’ve taken a little closer look at (travel and overtime) than we have in the past, which indicates those costs are running quite high and should be reduced,” said SCVWD board member Sig Sanchez, who has served for 28 years. “We’ve got to tighten up our belt like everybody else.”
There has been little scrutiny over travel expenses until the board’s Oct. 28 meeting. At that meeting, staff presented a detailed report indicating the district spent more than $454,000 on airfare, mileage, parking, meals and registration fees to send employees to training seminars, meetings and conferences from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2008. If the district spent the same amount in the first half of the fiscal year, from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2007, they would have spent $1,064 per employee on travel expenses for the year.
But learning more about travel expenses prior to the recent report is difficult. Unlike other utility districts and private companies, SCVWD does not calculate a separate budget category for travel expenses at the beginning of each year like they do for salaries and overtime, according to district spokeswoman Susan Siravo. She said the October travel report was compiled from files of receipts and individual employee expense reports, and had been requested by Sanchez earlier this year.
“They are wanting to be transparent with this report, making it available to the public, and discussing it so that anyone in the community can hear about it,” Siravo said. She said travel expenses within each unit or department are projected every year, but are not readily accessible as a single line item on the budget summary that is released on the SCVWD Web site.
At the same meeting in which the six-month reports on travel and overtime expenses were presented, the board voted 4-3 to give themselves a 10 percent pay raise for 2009. Sanchez, who voted against the raise and asked that his per diem pay be frozen at the 2006 rate, noted at least overtime costs in the district are on going down. Earlier this year, the board of directors reduced the staff overtime budget by nearly half. In the current fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009, the district will spend $1,188,369, or an average of $1,440 for each of its 825 employees on overtime. In the last fiscal year, $2,348,274, or $2,753 per employee, was budgeted for overtime. The board also eliminated 22 staff positions this year.
The district provides drinking water and flood protection for about 1.8 million Santa Clara County residents and has a budget of $411 million.
By comparison, East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Contra Costa Water District each spent more on overtime, and less on travel expenses than SCVWD in the first half of the year.
The East Bay water agency employs 2,110 people, provides water for 1.3 million customers and waste water service for 620,000 customers and has a total budget of $607 million for fiscal year 2008-09. In the first half of this year, that district spent $3,683,895 on overtime and $832,640 on travel expenses, according to Carol Nishita, the agency’s director of administration. For the year, they are on pace to spend an estimated average of $3,490 for each employee’s overtime and $790 on travel per employee.
The Contra Costa Water District, which is much smaller than the EBMUD and SCVWD, has $3,133 per employee budgeted for overtime in fiscal year 2009, which is up by 18 percent from 2008. They are projected to spend $384 per employee this year on travel expenses, according to CCWD spokeswoman Patty Friesen. The CCWD has an annual budget of $202 million and employs 330 people, providing water service to 550,000 customers in central and eastern Contra Costa County.
In contrast, the Orange County Water District serves 2.3 million residents with 216 employees and a $130 million budget which includes $220,000 in overtime and $54,000 in travel expenses during the first six months of 2008.
Unlike SCVWD, both EBMUD and CCWD identify their travel expenses as an individual expense item in their annual public budget summaries.
The travel expense report presented to the SCVWD board in October lists more than 1,300 trips taken by staff members. Most of those were day trips within the state. More than half of the total travel expenses – about $241,000 – was for registration fees at conferences and training programs, some of which cost more than $3,000 for a single participant. When traveling outside the state, staff often stayed at hotels that cost more than $200 per night, according to the report.
Some employees traveled more than others. Greg Zlotnick, the assistant officer to the district’s office of delta policy and imported water supply, logged a total of 62 trips which cost more than $14,500 during the six-month period. Those include four items listed as “meetings” in Washington, D.C.
Siravo said Zlotnick’s role in acquiring water from outside the district requires him to travel frequently. Zlotnick is a former board member who was the subject of controversy last year when he was hired to a six-figure-salary staff position without the board’s authorization.
A local business consultant who has worked with private companies since 1980 said, “it would be cheaper to hire more people” than to continue spending as much in overtime as these three water districts do, said Bert Berson of Berson and Associates, a business consulting company in Morgan Hill.
He said the travel expenses, which accounted for .2 percent of the SCVWD’s total budget last year, don’t appear excessive compared to private businesses, but there are probably ways the district could cut travel costs.
Siravo said the meetings, conferences and training seminars are necessary to maintain a staff that is qualified to serve such a narrow focus as water supply and flood protection. She said about half of the district’s employees are skilled professionals such as engineers, biologists, botanists and geologists.
“Training is something that’s important,” Siravo said. “(Our employees) need to keep up with what’s happening in the industry, in conservation and technology. And we have people who have worked in the district a long time. We think it’s important to invest in our people so they are the most qualified to their jobs well.”
Furthermore, she said overtime is required at water treatment and distribution facilities that have to stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And Siravo added that the district provides flood protection, which most other districts do not. This area accounts for $89 million of the SCVWD’s fiscal year 2008-09 expenses.
Board chair Rosemary Kamei, who represents South County on the SCVWD board of directors, said that administrative staff who approve travel expenses should more closely consider how many people they send to some of the conferences.
“We can take a closer look at some of these conferences, if they’re necessary or optional,” Kamei said.
Regardless, San Martin resident and longtime water district critic Bob Cerruti said the travel and overtime expenses are excessive, especially as the board continues to raise water rates year after year.
“There needs to be more stringent oversight of the expenses,” said Cerruti, who once served on the district’s flood control advisory committee.
