Candidate for
Director; Marin Municipal Water District; District 4

The More You Conserve, the Bigger Your Water Bill Gets

It's wrong to ask you to conserve and then raise your rates when you do. The Marin Municipal Water District board has gotten us into a fiscal mess.

• They raised rates twice in the last 10 months alone, and there is still a budget gap.
• They gave out $800,000 in raises this year and then talked about cutting 44 jobs.
• They approved contracts that created a $200 million pension shortfall - that is over $3,000 for each and every ratepayer.

This has to stop. We can't keep doing things the same way and hoping things will be different.

It's Time for a Paradigm Shift

A paradigm shift is a change from one way of thinking to another. It does not just happen; it's driven by agents of change. I am that agent of change. I will bring to this board a strong fiscal perspective, a bias towards conservation, and the board experience to create a culture of communication, transparency and public participation. Vote for me on November 2nd, and let's bring a much needed paradigm shift to the MMWD board.

Responsible Budgeting

We need MMWD to live within its means like the rest of us have to. Raising rates twice in only 10 months is an indication of major fiscal mismanagement. The budget needs to be streamlined and tightly managed, putting aside money in good years to save for the lean years. Instead, MMWD has used flush years to increase the budget so that the burden is that much more difficult in tight economic times.

A Business Model That Works

Currently, the more you conserve, the more they raise your rates, and there is still a budget gap. The district needs a business model that rewards conservation, penalizes water waste, and reflects the true costs of the system. A recent consultant's report reveals that the district does not have a cost-of-service rate model. This means that there is no relationship between the cost to deliver water and the water rates. They can't be sure they can cover their costs, so they have to raise rates and hope for the best.

Measure Programs & Departments for Effectiveness

The current conservation program does not measure the effectiveness of each program, so good programs, like the Sustainable Fairfax pilot, are cut and other less successful programs remain. All programs should be measured for effectiveness so that underperforming programs can be cut to make room for new approaches.

A Culture of Transparency

There needs to be a culture of transparency and public participation built into the board's activities so that the public can give valuable input into the decisions that affect our communities. The board needs to make better use of citizens advisory committees, allowing interested people and community groups to participate in creating solutions that can be reported back to the board.