(From The Birmingham News - AL.com)
Water Works concerns voters, poll finds
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Barnett Wright

The Water Works Board is becoming a major issue in the Birmingham City Council elections, which are less than 60 days away.

Many likely voters are angered by the increased rates and spending practices of the board and want the council to take action, said Jim Jager, president of New South Research of Birmingham, who polled 907 likely voters in July. The poll was paid for by VoterNewsNetwork, an independent political news group founded by Birmingham lawyer Donald Watkins.

"People want to hear from somebody who has a plan of how they are going to approach dealing with the Water Works and the increasing bills," Jager said. "Discontent toward the Water Works repeatedly came up" in the survey.

The council elections are Oct. 11.

Jager said he was surprised that the water board was ranked with education and crime as important issues.

"Schools and crime are always at the top, but to see two out of 10 people commenting that the Water Works Board is an issue is something we haven't seen in the past," he said.

The water system has come up before in elections. The city owned the water works assets, including Lake Purdy and Inland Lake, from September 1998 to February 2001, when the City Council, over Mayor Bernard Kincaid's objections, returned the assets to the Water Works Board.

Kincaid sued to stop the $471 million transfer. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the transfer in 2002.

The Petitioners Alliance was a civic group that fought the sale of the Water Works in 2001 and blamed some council members for supporting the transfer of assets. Four years ago, six of nine council members lost jobs, partly over the Water Works issue.

Accountability at the Water Works has become an issue this year. The board spent more than twice the $2.5 million budgeted for consultants and outside engineering work. In July, it raised rates 6.5 percent and has proposed increases in January 2006 and January 2007 that would total an additional 16.5 percent.

Board officials on Thursday said they are agreeable to regulation by the Alabama Public Service Commission, which would have to approve all changes in rates and regulations.

Council appointees:

The City Council appoints members to the utility's board and, since taking office in 2001, has named four of the current five board members.

Several council candidates say they plan to make appointments to the water board a campaign issue.

One of the more vocal critics of the board's actions is Chris Cummings, who is running against Councilman Joel Montgomery in District 1.

"There should be reforms on the table to bring more accountability to the Water Works board," Cummings said. "The Water Board meeting minutes should be made readily available to the citizens online just like the City Council meeting minutes are online. If they are going to spend more money than is budgeted, that information should be made available to the citizens."

Montgomery said he voted for only one of the five current board members and asked the council's administration committee in June to pass a resolution asking the water board not to raise rates.

"That was not acted on," Montgomery said. "I was the only one. Something that important should not have slipped through the cracks. I am prepared to push another resolution before they raise rates again, if I can get the support."

Criticized board:

Councilwoman Valerie Abbott said she has lambasted some members of the board for the rate increases.

"The first thing they should have done was announce that they have a financial shortfall and they were making cuts to rein in what's going on at the Water Works Board," Abbott said.

Councilwoman Carole Smitherman said the board needs public hearings to keep ratepayers posted on maintenance and operations. Jager said comments from likely voters in Birmingham's Oct. 11 election ranged from "get Water Works straightened out" to "get rid of Water Works Board" to "Water Works spending too much money."


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