Renee Osborne
By KAREN VELIE
Less than three months after a 65 percent water rate increase went into effect, the Los Osos Community Services District is planning to approve a 23 percent raise for its general manager.
In Oct. 2016, the board voted to make Renee Osborne of Grace Environmental Services its general manager for $78,024 a year. If the board approves Osborne’s new contract at Thursday’s board meeting, it will raise her annual salary to $98,000.
Osborne manages a district that provides water, some lighting and some drainage to about 14,000 residents. Other services such as sewer, trash collection, law enforcement and fire protection are either contracted out or managed by other government agencies.
District staff is recommending the increase in pay to provide compensation for moving from a part-time manager position to a full-time position, according to the staff report.
If the new contract is approved, Osborne’s salary will increase from $6,005 a month to $8,010 a month.
Because of financial shortfalls, the district’s water department operated in the red last year. The recent water rate increase is expected to bring in between $500,000 to $900,000 a year over three years to pay for new infrastructure.
In the past, the district has had multiple problems with its general managers going through 16 in just 15 years.
The board will meet at 7 p.m. on Oct. 12 to vote on Osborne’s proposed pay increase.
At this point in time, our remaining four Board of Directors & County Supervisors, should seriously consider disollution of the district and in it’s place the formation of a Community Service Area (CSA) once again.
This is just another slap in the face to every hard working taxpayer. Except for government employees who else in the main line workforce has received a 23% pay increase? Plus whatever benefits that were also given. At some point in time we the people are going to have to stand up and require that our politicians quit giving away all of their so called free money that we have worked for, All of these pay raises, benefit packages, severance pay in lieu of getting fired, studies and legal fees to protect them from their errors needs to come under control. If not, I will say it, bankruptcy is getting its E ticket to financial disaster.
That’s actually a 33% increase is salary. I wish I could get that every year…
That’s based on the monthly salaries quoted in the article.
My biggest beef is with the staff report and the suggestion that the original contract was “contemplated’ as a “part time” position. The original contract doesn’t say that — anywhere. Then they suggest that the new pay rate is for “full time” and that it is about the same as the previous interim GM that was also part time — again, “part time” was never a prerequisite for either contractor…the job was to be done at one price. In neither case did the job go out to bid, both these contractors pitched their wares and the LOCSD bought them. It’s not the ratepayers fault that a contractor low-balled and now wants more, because the job is harder than they thought….that’s what their experience is supposed to have told them. They got their foot in the door and as I see it the board doesn’t want to admit they were wrong so they are falling for their argument that they need to be full time. Bogus! Show me a years worth of work product that supports the increase, more time isn’t going to make the quality better.
So this $500,00 to $900,000 Rate increase is for Infrastructure. For the scarce Job Duties that Renee Osborne is required to perform I would think that she is Grossly over paid at $78,024.
I love it when the Tax Payer is outright Lied to and told the Money is for this and that ,and then it is used for added PORK to FEED the Over Paid Pigs who Dwell at the Trough.