2008-2009 BUDGET APPROVAL AND NEW FEE SCHEDULE
For the eighth year in a row the Board of Directors appointed a Budget Committee to work with the Board of Directors in developing a new budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The Budget Committee was made up of the District’s three Board Members: Bob Morris, Keith W. Corp and Richard Fujas and three District patrons: Willard Chapman, Bob Nelson and Lowell Fowler.
The budget process was particularly challenging this year with the rising cost of doing business. The major factors influencing the costs of operations includes the increase in fuel costs, materials and the general increase in day to day operations. This, in conjunction with the decrease in interest income and the overall state of the economy made the adoption of an acceptable budget difficult.
Considering the impact that raising fees would have on District patrons, it was a very hard decision for the Budget Committee and Board Members to agree on the first increase in District fees in three years. The fee increases became effective on October 1, 2008 and consist of the irrigation charges increasing $2.00 per acre from $46.00 to $48.00 for old land and from $48.00 to $50.00 per acre for new land. The account charge will increase $5.00 from $70.00 to $75.00 per tax lot. The ESA charge will remain at $2.00 per acre.
Irrigation Fees
Account Charge $75.00
Old Land $48.00
New Land $50.00
McDonald Land $40.00
ESA $2.00
Administrative Fees
Lien Search $55.00
Lien/Satisfaction $170.00
Capital Improvement Transfer Fee
Up to 5 ac. $220.00
Addt’l acres $30.00
Water Right Transfer $550.00
Temporary Instream Leases:
0-5 acres $45.00
5.1 to 10 acres $90.00
10.1 to 20 acres $135.00
20.1 to 30 acres $175.00
30.1 to 40 acres $220.00
40.1 to 50 acres $265.00
50.1 to 60 acres $310.00
Over 60.1 acres $330.00
Crossing Applications $220.00
Returned Check $30.00
Pond Application $55.00
Research Records $35.00
Copies (first page) $ 0.25
additional pages of same
document $ 0.10
UPDATE ON THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (ESA) SECTION 7 CONSULTATION
As reported in the Spring Newsletter the Bureau of Reclamation is continuing to work on their Supplemental Biological Assessment that will ultimately be submitted to NOAA for their use in completing a Biological Opinion.
The Bureau of Reclamation originally compiled a Draft Biological Assessment that was lacking in scientific and actual operational data. The districts have spent the last few years working directly with the Bureau to help them update and improve this Supplemental Biological Assessment so that it is acceptable to the Bureau as well as the districts. It is important for the districts to be involved in this process to protect our ability to deliver water to our patrons. The current Board of Directors would like to express their appreciation to the past board members who had the foresight to get involved in this process and set up a special fund to collect money solely for the purpose of dealing with the costs associated with this process. The Board knew that this endeavor would be extremely expensive but no one actually thought the process would be going on for so many years and be as expensive as it has been and continues to be.
Several meetings have been held over the summer months to iron out the more technical issues between the Bureau and the districts. These meetings have included representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation, the irrigation districts legal and scientific experts and irrigation district representatives. The latest information compiled by the districts and our experts was turned over to the Bureau in early September for their review. Since then one more technical meeting was held the first part of October in Talent. As this point the districts are waiting for the Bureau to complete their review of the latest information so that another technical meeting can be scheduled for a final review prior to the final Biological Assessment being sent to NOAA for their review and development of a Biological Opinion.
It is important to understand that this process will not end when all of the information is turned over to NOAA. The districts will need to continue to monitor and be involved in the infrastructure of the process while NOAA develops the Biological Opinion.
The consultation has been and continues to be time consuming and extremely expensive. The continued protection of the districts’ ability to deliver irrigation water to our patrons is of the utmost importance.
The districts continue to be very aware of what happened in 2001 in Klamath and are doing as much as possible to stay involved in this extremely important and complicated process.
END OF THE 2008 IRRIGATION SEASON
The 2008 irrigation season ended when water deliveries were shut off to all project canals on the morning of October 15th. This ended a somewhat calm and very successful irrigation season.
The McDonald System which does not use storage water was shutdown completely on Monday, August 18, 2008. The McDonald System ran almost two weeks longer than it did in 2007.
The District ended the irrigation season with the following carryover for the 2009 season:
HOWARD PRAIRIE
48,602 acre feet or 81% of capacity
HYATT LAKE
13,011 acre feet or 81% of capacity
EMIGRANT LAKE
11,846 acre feet or 31% of capacity
These are very good amounts to carry over to next year and with an average winter, we will be in good shape for the 2009 season.
PRIVATE IRRIGATION LINES
Once again the District would like to remind all water users of the need to drain all of your private irrigation pipelines before the freezing weather arrives to avoid breaks in the pipes. The next irrigation season always gets off to a better start when there are not a lot of repairs that need to be made.
There is one other issue regarding private irrigation pipelines that we would like to address. It is the property owners’ responsibility to install signs where their private irrigation lines are located. When the District receives a notice that construction is going to be done within our boundary, our employees locate our lines so that the contractors know where they are located. TID does not locate private irrigation lines. We do not know where they are located or how they were installed and we can not be responsible for their protection.
BOARD OF DIRECTOR ELECTION INFORMATION
Bob Morris’s term of office as a Board of Director expires on December 31, 2008. Nominating Petitions for Director Morris’s expiring term were available in the District office from September 1, 2008 until October 6, 2008. A legal notice was published in the Mail Tribune on Friday, September 12, 2008 announcing that the petitions were available. The deadline for filing the Nomination Petitions was 4:30 p.m. on October 6, 2008. The only Nominating Petition that was filed by the deadline was from Bob Morris. Since only one Nominating Petition was received, the District will not be holding an election this year.
EMPLOYEE RETIREMENTS & RESIGNATION
In 2008 two employees left the District to enjoy retirement.
Kathleen Marshall worked in the office for 19 years and retired on April 30th. Kathleen was extremely knowledgeable about the District and its’ patrons. She spent a large portion of her time with the District answering the phone. Over the years many patrons came to know Kathleen on a personal basis and she really enjoyed the camaraderie.
Roger Godard worked as a Ditch Rider and Maintenance Man for the District for 16 1/2 years and retired on September 30th. Over the years he rode ditch on several of the canals and came to know many of his patrons on a personal basis. Roger was also extremely knowledgeable about the District and in particular the Ashland Canal.
We are pleased to report that even though he has officially retired Roger has agreed to come back next summer to ride ditch for at least one more season.
In addition to Kathleen and Roger’s retirements, one other District employee, Chuck Skeeters, resigned his position on October 15th. Chuck left his position for personal reasons after contributing 9 years of service to the District.
Between Kathleen, Roger and Chuck their combined years of service to the District total over 44 years. This is a lot of knowledge to lose in such a short period of time. We want them all to know that they already are and will continue to be greatly missed.
Everyone at TID thanks them for their years of service and wishes them the best of luck in their retirements and future endeavors. We hope they all keep in touch as they will be thought of often and with much envy.
NEW OFFICE EMPLOYEE
You may have noticed a new voice on the phone when calling the office. This new voice belongs to Lyndee who came to TID from Coquille. She is doing a great job and we are glad to have her on board. Please join us in welcoming her as our newest employee.
NO SPRAY AGREEMENTS
If you are a landowner that wants to request that no chemicals are used to control plant growth on the District’s right of way on your property, you need to annually fill out a No Spray Agreement and file it in the District office by January 1st of each year. The forms are available in the office. You may either pick one up or request that one be mailed to you.