OID hopes for $5 million profit from shopping river water in 2017

Irrigation leaders on Tuesday took a break from arguing, pausing long enough to unanimously approve a new annual budget reflecting a promise not to raise water prices in 2017.

The $16 million operations spending plan envisions selling 50,000 acre-feet of water to outsiders, a unique revenue strategy among water agencies in Stanislaus County but common for the Oakdale Irrigation District. In the past decade, the agency has spent $55 million in proceeds on upgrades and boosted a savings account to $56 million, while delivering more water to customers than other drought-weakened districts.

OID sold $17 million worth of water this year, and expects to make $5 million shipping water to outsiders in 2017. A small amount would be offered to local growers just outside OID boundaries, bringing about $50,000, and regular customers will pay about $3.27 million for their water, the budget says.

Selling electricity to Santa Clara from dams on the Stanislaus River should bring OID another $13 million, with other Tri-Dam income, the budget says.

The district expects to pay cash for a one-mile tunnel near Knights Ferry costing as much as $20 million, and expects to be free of debt – now $26 million – by 2023.

The budget also sets aside $1.5 million to cover settlements with growers who had contracted with OID to fallow land before that program fell apart. The issue sparked two lawsuits, both ongoing, and prompted much of Tuesday’s discord.

Contention is nothing new for the OID board, three of whose members agreed a few months ago to sue the other two. A judge ruled in favor of the minority, composed of Linda Santos and Gail Altieri, but the board majority of Steve Webb, Herman Doornenbal and Gary Osmundson decided to continue the lawsuit.

Some customers circulated petitions aimed at recalling Santos; if county elections workers verify enough signatures this month, an election could be scheduled for May.

A private investigator hired by Robert Frobose, a plaintiff in the first fallowing lawsuit, reported finding fraud in petition-gathering. Santos said Nov. 16 meeting minutes don’t reflect the allegation that someone in an OID pickup truck lied about the subject of the petition, and said she hoped that management would have looked into the “very serious” accusation of an employee doing political work with taxpayer-owned equipment.

The board majority said Knell had nothing to look into because Frobose had not shared the investigator’s report. Frobose said he wanted assurance that OID would not “browbeat (the witness), like you do to me. … I want you to investigate, but I want the witness protected,” he said in a tense exchange with Webb, Doornenbal and Osmundson.

At another point, Osmundson repeated an offer to talk out differences but said no one had accepted it. Santos questioned why he would vote to continue the lawsuit against her and Altieri.

“Sometimes your actions speak louder than words,” Santos said.

Webb, the board chairman, said, “It’s been a good year for OID, even though some people try to keep dark clouds over it.”

He wished people a merry Christmas, and said, “Maybe we’ll all return here in a better mood in January.”

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 6:23 PM with the headline "OID hopes for $5 million profit from shopping river water in 2017."