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Friday, February 25, 2011

Re: Harris’ letter to members of Dripping Springs Water Supply


Note: Concerned citizen Roy Pursley responds to the letter sent by Dripping Springs Water Supply Corporation Board President Steve Harris to the water supply's member-customers earlier this month. For more background, and a view of Harris' letter, scroll down to the story, "Board president sends alarming letter to Dripping Water Supply members." Harris and fellow board member Larry Brewer are facing a recall petition from members. A special meeting of the board has been set for March 10 to consider the petition. DSWSC is a member-owned water utility. It serves about 1,400 home and commercial customers in the Dripping Springs area.

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Pursley at
pursleycpa@verizon.net or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story. You can't email the water supply because the office doesn't have internet access.

To the Editor,

I received Mr. Harris’ letter to the membership and was astonished. This letter is full of unfounded charges and complaints against everyone Mr. Harris thinks is his enemy. He even tries to convince the members that the office staff is up to sinister actions by recording the meetings. Every meeting, since March 4, 2010, has been recorded because in discussion it was requested, though a motion was never passed to that effect. Accusing them of not being trustworthy and somehow against him is beyond the pale of reason.

Mr. Harris also rants about the General Manager’s contract. I decided to check this out, so under the open records act, I requested copies of Mr. Doug Cones’ W-2 and his employment contract. Mr. Cones is not paid $250,000 per year as Mr. Harris insinuates. Instead, his salary is $97,522.32 per year. His 2009 W-2 lists his income as 101,585.75. The difference between these two numbers is attributable to the fact that Mr. Cones worked through his vacation, and according to a long standing policy, he is paid if he works through his vacation.

Yes he drives a company truck, this is standard in most service jobs where the employee is on call 24/7. Yes he gets health insurance as does every other employee. Yes the company pays for a phone so the members can get in touch with him 24 hours a day if they need assistance.

Is this a benefit for Mr. Cones? I think not. Mr. Cones carries the phone so that he can meet the needs of the members whenever they need him. The $250,000 figure mentioned by Mr. Harris is overstated and not only includes Mr. Cones’ compensation, it includes normal employment benefits and costs that would be there for service to the members no matter who was General Manager. It also includes longevity amounts which may never be done.

The retirement package mentioned is also overstated. The financial statements issued by the Auditor for 2009 say that the company paid $16,500 into a 457(B) retirement plan for Mr. Cones. Between his salary and this retirement contribution, that is all that Mr. Cones actually received in compensation. There is a supplemental package that is not guaranteed like a normal retirement plan.

If Mr. Cones works for the full 10 years required of the contract, he will get a supplemental payment for his retirement. Mr. Cones will have to work until he is 72 years old to be eligible for this. It is highly unlikely that he will ever see this money. It is not vested, it is not shown as a liability to him, there is no money restricted for him. The board does place an amount in a CD to cover this potential payment, but according to the Audited financial statements, the money has no legal restrictions on it and the board can use it any way they want to.

By my calculations of the formula for this payment, Mr. Cones is not the million dollar man people claim him to be. Instead, after all the deductions specified in the contract, and after the taxes he will have to pay, he will likely have maybe $300,000 left to use as his retirement. This is not a large amount. Mr. Harris says that the company pays all of his taxes too. I find no mention of this in the contract.

Mr. Harris should be ashamed of himself for writing this letter.

Roy Pursley, Concerned Citizen
Dripping Springs, Tx

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