VVWD Rips Off Ratepayers With Another Land Deal

You're on your way to work.  You see a homeless guy on the sidewalk with a sign that tells a sad story, so you flip him a dollar.  You do this the day after, and the day after.

On the fourth day, he tells an even better story of how he needs just a few more dollars to get his life on track, so this time you flip him a five-spot.

Less than 10 minutes later, you spot the guy coming out of the liquor store with a bottle of wine under each arm.

Are you mad?

You bet.

This is the scam the Virgin Valley Water District has just pulled on the rate payers of this community.

And we should be mad as hell.

Over the last decade, the water district has squandered millions of dollars on bad decisions, corrupt employees, and pie-in-the-sky projects.  Both the previous general manager and hydrologist are under indictment.

One of the things that financially wrecked the water district was a decision to float an enormous bond to pay for a variety of projects, including the arsenic treatment plants.  However, squirreled away in that batch of cash was a plan to build a palatial new headquarters in Bunkerville.

When the bond was issued, the interest clock started ticking.  After a year or two, the board got around to discussing the new headquarters.  But by then, the economy had turned, and the citizens had gotten wise to the scam.  Also, investigators were looking into things.  So the board killed the deal.  Unfortunately, they couldn't just "give back" the money (according to then-GM Mike Winters). 

In the meantime, the board decided to use some of that money to purchase unneeded shares of river water, something that was never intended under the terms of the bond.

So the district wound up paying interest for another year until a new regime came in and arranged to restructure the bond.

However, as part of that restructuring, the water district implemented a series of water rate increases that local users have been getting popped with over the last two years.

In other words, the board screwed up, wasted millions, and the people of Mesquite and Bunkerville had to bail them out.

Last week, the board quietly approved -- you guessed it -- the purchase of some nearby land to expand their headquarters.

Think about it.  The VVWD jacked up our rates significantly, but suddenly have some extra money to waste on land for expansion?

If there was any overage (which it appears there isn't), it should have been given back to the people in the form of lowered rates.

Nope.

Of course, the board is beating its chest, claiming the $340,000 in ratepayer money paid for the parcel is a steal, since the land was going for more than $1 million just a few years ago.  But that's a ridiculous argument.

For starters, dog houses in Mesquite were going for $200,000 "just a few years ago."  Using the outrageous, overheated market prices from back then is a misleading ruse.

But more importantly, the water district is back to talking about expanding their headquarters.

There was no reason for an expansion in 2008, and there damn sure isn't a reason for an expansion in the foreseeable future when our economy remains in the sewer and houses are being built at a Methuselah pace.

It's now obvious that the problems at the VVWD weren't just the result of an (allegedly) crooked hydrologist and a good ole boy GM.  They're systemic.  As the joke goes, there must be something in the water, because that quasi-governmental agency continues to spit in the face of ratepayers by raping us on our rates, then turning around and wasting that money on land they don't need.

Heck, the board even admitted last week that one of their employees was arrested on 10 counts of burglary.  The employee was terminated, but you have to wonder whether it's because he got caught, or because he didn't give the water district its cut.

Apparently, the problems run so deep at the VVWD that even elections and appointing new board members and GM's can't cure it.

It's time for someone at the state to take a look at the mess in Mesquite, with an eye toward possibly taking it over.  Obviously the local people we've put in place can't be trusted with our dollars.