Comments From Other Councilors Re: Chamisa Hills

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From: "CHUCK WILKINS" <cwilkins@ci.rio-rancho.nm.us>
To: Max Payne
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2013 15:15:37 -0600
Subject: Re: Sale and development of Chamisa Hills Golf Course

Ms. Payne,

I appreciate your comments. I would like to correct some misconceptions.

First, I am not advocating one way or the other on developing homesites.
I do believe in making sure everyone involved in any issue is
well-informed.

Let me give you some information on water use. The average home uses 1/3
of an acre foot of water a year or less. 1000 homes would then use 333
acre foot or less. The golf course uses over 1000 acre foot of water
just for the landscaping (not including restaurant, pool, and other
uses). Just a couple of other facts, we currently pump about 14,500 acre
foot of water and when the city is built to current city limits we
estimate that we will pump 55,000 acre foot a year. One acre foot is
325,851 gallons.

The problem with the golf course is that we have been subsidizing a
private business in the amount of $1 million dollars/year on the backs
of all the citizens in Rio Rancho and even at the new rate in 2017 we
still will be subsidizing it 30% of what you and I would pay. The golf
course has not had a rate increase since 1995. Keep in mind that just
because there may be a new owner does not mean it will be developed. I
have heard of a couple entities who are very interested in buying it and
intend to keep the entire 235 acres for golf course, even knowing the
situation with the water rates.

Water rates were raised to fund our infrastructure that is falling
apart(1000 waterline breaks a year, 4-5 current wells down, and more)
and pay down some of the debt since the previous governing bodies were
funding the utilities on loans instead of gradually raising the rates.
We pay $8 million a year in interest on loans for the Utilities alone.
Unfortunately, the golf course is a private business whose owner has not
used sound management practices and his membership has declined
dramatically (without the water rate increase). Using the water rates as
his excuse for his failing business is convenient.

I am not sure what you mean by stringent water conservation policies?
Could you give me an example?

Lastly, I will see if your councilor will check into the water pressure
issue you have. The water system is supposed to have water pressure in a
certain range, so if it is in that range there are couple of things you
can do. You could install a booster which increases the pressure, or
limit the number of sprinklers that are on at a give time. Has the
utilities department come out to measure your water pressure? Can I get
your address?

Please let me know if you have any other concerns. I also have a
website that has a lot of information for citizens at
www.chuckwilkins.com


Thank you
Chuck Wilkins