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| 12/17/2009 6:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Summit Ridge switch will save money for water users
Residents vote to turn water system over to Montezuma Water Co.
Kimberly Benedict
Journal Staff Writer
In a mail-in ballot election last week, customers of Summit Ridge Water District showed their overwhelming support for combining the district's operations with those of Montezuma Water Co.
Total monetary savings resulting from the consolidation will average $140 per customer annually, according to Summit board member Mark Tuttle. Actual customer savings will vary based on water usage.
Of the 895 ballots that were sent out to customers, 110 were returned to the district as undeliverable and 276 were completed, Tuttle said. Of the complete ballots, 228 voted for the consolidation and 48 were opposed.
"If you tumble the numbers it was almost a five-to-one margin," Tuttle said. "For every person that voted against it (consolidation), there were nearly five that voted for it."
The vote puts the customers' seal of approval on a move that has been in the works for almost a year.
The water district, created about 20 years ago, serves 540 active taps and has about 630 members, according to Tuttle.
Since its inception, Summit Ridge Water District has purchased water from Montezuma Water Co. and sold it to residents. Summit Ridge also managed the pipes and other physical components within the district, and billed customers.
"For the last 20 years, the district has been independent and simply purchased water from Montezuma," Tuttle said. "As regulations have changed and it has gotten more costly to do that, we feel the district doesn't have enough value to justify the incremental cost. That is what primarily motivated the board."
In 2008, Summit Ridge Water District spent $75,000 more to manage the system than it would have cost if Montezuma Water Co. had managed the system, Tuttle said.
The Summit Ridge board began contemplating consolidation early this year, and although the recent vote finalizes the decision, the wheels of change move slowly.
"We still have a lot of work to do," Tuttle said. "The vote was really the board looking for direction, and so probably we'll be working toward it during the first quarter of next year -probably spring before it is done."
The consolidation process will involve all billing and services formally being transferred to Montezuma Water Co., which will also take over maintenance of the Summit system. Customers likely will notice little change, as Montezuma Water Co. has been operating the Summit system since June as a test run for consolidation, according to Tuttle.
The natural result of the move will be the effective end of the Summit Ridge Water District.
"Obviously, the district will no longer exist," Tuttle said.
Montezuma Water Co. has already assimilated Summit's one full-time employee.
Montezuma Water Co. Manger Mike Bauer agrees the process of consolidation will be slow, but he recognizes the mutual benefit that consolidation will bring to the company and Summit customers.
"They still have a long process to go through before the whole thing is complete," Bauer said. "Nothing has really changed for the customer other than the billing will come through us and, in the end, I think the mill levy will go away."
When the Summit Ridge district was originally created, residents placed a mill tax on themselves in order to fund the service. The consolidation would most likely eliminate the need for the tax.
"We are in favor of it (consolidation), we support it, we have been working with Summit to make it happen," Bauer said. "It is a positive for both sides."
For more information, contact Summit Ridge Water District at 882-4562 or Montezuma Water Co. at 882-2226.
Reach Kimberly Benedict at kimberlyb@cortezjournal.com.
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