Loudoun Water Board Attempting to Get a Raise On November 19th the County Board’s Finance/Government Services Operations Committee voted on an item the former Chairman of the Loudoun Water Board and now Director of Loudoun Water, Fred Jennings, brought to the committee. He wants a salary increase for the Water Board. I feel the item is inappropriate based on what the volunteer appointed Water Board already gets paid based on the County’s size and proportion to other jurisdictions. The item compares Loudoun to larger counties such as Prince William and Fairfax (Fairfax’s population is four times the size of Loudoun’s and Prince William has almost 90,000 more people than Loudoun). How can anyone justify approving a salary increase that would be the same or more than a larger jurisdiction’s? It should also be noted that that Loudoun Water Board members are volunteer appointed, who also have day jobs and only deal with water items in their Water Board positions. Their current pay is appropriate for part-time volunteer appointee Board Members who only handle water & sewer items. The increase would come from the Loudoun Water budget, but requires the County Board to approve the increase. However, it should be noted that Loudoun Water is unwilling to fund improvements for certain communities without charging those residents directly, but their Director is interested and willing to get the Loudoun Water Board more pay. Fairfax has 1.3million people = Water Board Chairman $1,250/mo Others $850/mo, Prince William has 438,580 people = Water Board Chairman $1,000/mo Others $800/mo, Loudoun has 349,649 People = Water Board Chairman makes $550/mo Others $400... Loudoun Water wants $1,000/mo (this is more than PWC!) and $800/mo for the others (which is the same as PWC!) Supervisor Buona made the motion to increase the Water Board’s part-time salaries to be higher than Prince William County’s! Listen to the discussion because the discussion does not make sense when you know the facts. Supervisors Buona, Williams and Letourneau voted to support the increase, with Supervisor Reid voting no (Chairman York was absent). It was asserted that they Mr. Jennings wants more pay to attract more highly qualified Board members. I find that fascinating because, there have been so many qualified people wanting to serve on the Loudoun Water Board that we have had to have a ballot for applicants a couple of times already in the past three years, having had absolutely no problem with getting qualified people. Fred Jennings was appointed to the Loudoun Water Board years ago and last year was hired into a head staff position in Loudoun Water. You can find the recording at loudoun.gov/index.aspx?NID=2203 . While is clear that Loudoun Water has a major surplus of funds and this would come out of those funds, just because they have it doesn’t mean an increased salary is justified. Raspberry Falls & Selma Estates citizens should not be required to pay for water infrastructure separately because their water supplier – Loudoun Water didn’t arrange for the appropriate infrastructure when those communities were built. The residents in communities on communal water systems provided by Loudoun Water also should not be required to pay over and above what other Loudoun Water customers pay. So Loudoun Water is willing to absorb costs of infrastructure only for the communities they chose to, rather than to provide universal rates across their entire system, but yet are asking for a salary increase. This item is being brought to the Board of Supervisors tomorrow night for a vote. You can reach the Board at [email protected].
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 00:06:58 +0000
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