RE: ‘CVSan Preps Site’ Article

Editor,

On the front page of the March 8th Forum was an article titled “CVSan Preps Site for Their New HQ.” The article noted that the Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) acquired the Center Street property for $1.5 Million in 2013 and recently awarded the construction contract for $20.844 Million. Other costs not mentioned in the article are related costs to date of $1.3 Million and an estimated $2.5 Million for additional material costs. Thus, assuming no cost overruns, the cost to the CVSan ratepayers is going to be over $26 Million.

Most troubling is that CVSan plans to finance this project by selling 30-year bonds at a cost to the ratepayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. In the past, CVSan would pride itself with the philosophy of “pay as you go.”  The way that works is that CVSan would overinflate its yearly budget to justify rate increases and then at audit time they would always end up with a multi-million dollar surplus, which they would squirrel away for pet projects. Their new $26 Million headquarters started off as a $7 Million corporation yard that was going to be paid totally from the CVSan’s reserve fund.

Most of CVSan’s 100 year-old sewer mains are dilapidated and overburdens the Oro Loma Treatment plant, especially when it rains, which we have been getting a lot of lately. Instead of spending $26 million on a new Headquarter building, they should spend it on replacing their worn out sewer system.

Moreover, CVSan’s current Headquarter building is only 20 years-old, which they plan to sell at a pittance from its original cost. Needless to say, their current Headquarters building could be donated or sold to a homeless organization to house many homeless people in our area. Their current Headquarters has restrooms with showers, a kitchen, and considerable space for sleeping quarters.

CVSan’s fiscal incompetence and reckless spending should be investigated.

                –Ken Owen, Castro Valley