By Marty Kufus

PLEASANTON — Nearing the end of a fiscal year in which the rural aquifer district emerged as a major player in regional water planning, the Evergreen’s board Sept. 11 approved a budget increase of nearly $93,000.

It also raised its property-tax rate to 1.73 cents per $100 property valuation, from 1.7 cents, in its four-county jurisdiction.

The Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District also is making plans for construction of a new headquarters, at the industrial park here, and the hiring of a hydrologist to perform computer modeling of aquifers.

The Evergreen’s budget for the 2000-2001 fiscal year totals $676,800, according to records. A year ago, its board approved a budget totaling $584,100.

The new budget includes a $100,000 building-construction loan, but also projects a $53,300 drop in grants for the Evergreen’s participation in weather modification “cloud-seeding.”

The Evergreen’s board and staff held their monthly meeting last week in the conference room of the Wells Fargo Bank in Pleasanton.

The district’s offices are located in Jourdanton.

Board President Ken Stephens of Atascosa County presided over directors Paul Bordovsky and Fabian Jendrusch of Karnes, Doug Brownlow and Steve Snider of Wilson, William Ruple of Atascosa, and Blaine Schorp and Clifton Stacy of Frio County.

Director Mark Mitchell of Wilson County did not attend.

Dollars

The 2000-2001 fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

The increased tax rate, coupled with higher property appraisals in the four counties, is expected to generate a total of $405,604 revenue, or an increase of about $42,000.

Of that $405,604, according to the proposed budget, $152,405 is projected to come from Wilson; $46,989 from Karnes; $154,546 from Atascosa; and, $51,664 from Frio.

The new budget shows a $54,000 increase in payroll, to a total of $175,500 in the coming fiscal year.

That will allow the hiring of a hydrologist at $30,000 a year.

Hydrologist Rosario Martinez holds a master’s degree in environmental science from Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, and currently works as a research assistant in the school’s Center for Water Supply Studies, according to her résumé.

She is experienced in ground-water computer modeling, Evergreen General Manager Mike Mahoney told the board.

This summer the Evergreen spent about $35,000 on computer-aided analyses by consultant HDR Engineering (April 26 Wilson County News).

The study allowed the Evergreen’s board to set a “safe yield” limit for future export pumping of the Carrizo Aquifer in Wilson County.

The South Central Texas Regional Water Planning Group, charged with making a 50-year plan for 20-1/2 counties, accepted the Evergreen’s limit for Wilson County and cut by nearly 80 percent the production goal in one “option” that would help supply San Antonio (July 5 Wilson County News).

The Evergreen’s influence also is felt indirectly through Mahoney’s duties as a voting member of the regional planning group.

He also serves in a water “stakeholder” group that is preparing a detailed report for the Texas Senate’s Natural Resources Committee.

The increased budget will provide pay raises for Mahoney as well as the Evergreen’s field technician and secretary.
Praise

At an Aug. 8 meeting, the Evergreen’s board unanimously voted to raise Mahoney’s salary to $60,000 a year from $45,000.

“Under your leadership,” Director Ruple told Mahoney, “we’ve gone from an obscure little ground-water district in South Texas to probably one of the leading ground-water districts in South Texas. And I appreciate that.”

Director Bordovsky, tongue in cheek, added that the board should give Mahoney an extra $125 “to buy a reverse-osmosis, double-inflated, ion-transferred seat for all those meetings” he attends.

Awkward praise?

At last week’s Evergreen meeting, only one of the district’s residents spoke during a public hearing on the 2000-2001 budget and tax rate.

Diane Savage, chairman of the Wilson County Water Action Project, acknowledged the Evergreen’s “really critical responsibility of protection and conservation” of aquifer water in the four counties.

The district has done “outstanding work,” she said, and lately has achieved public recognition.

People now refer to the Evergreen “in the same breath as the Edwards Aquifer Authority,” Savage added.

“Uh, wait a minute…,” Mahoney replied.

The board members began laughing at his feigned discomfort.