Guest Opinion

There has been much turmoil at a little special district that brings water and sewer service to Oak Park, North Ranch, Lake Sherwood and the Thousand Oaks side of Westlake Village.

From what I've seen, the Triunfo Sanitation District has some serious financial issues that might also be shared by other special districts.

By virtue of my being the county supervisor for the area, I was given a seat on the Triunfo Sanitation District board. Soon after I arrived, the finance director for Triunfo retired. But shortly before he retired he made some major changes in the district's finances that are now unraveling.

For example, he convinced the Triunfo Board to take their investment funds and have them actively traded in the bond market. He similarly moved the investments of several special districts whose finances he managed.

Despite a dozen attempts over the last three years, no one on the

Triunfo board would second my motion to return the investment funds to the conservative strategy like we used to have. The trading losses and high fees for Triunfo amounted to $434,000 in lost earnings.

Another change the finance director made was to take the operating revenue for Triunfo and other districts he managed and put the money in noninterest bearing checking accounts. At least $8 million was held in the bank receiving no interest.

All this could have been avoided. I just found out that two Triunfo board members were privy to an audit that was done when the finance director retired in 2004 that red-flagged these financial moves. The auditor specifically recommended that the changes he made be "reevaluated and either ratified or reversed."

This 2004 audit was shared with Triunfo Boardmembers Dennis Gillette and James Acosta, who also sit on another special district (The Ventura Regional Sanitation District) that hires Triunfo's finance director. No action was ever taken on the auditor's recommendations. If the recommendations had been followed when they were provided to the VRSD board in 2004, it is possible that a million dollars could have been saved between Triunfo and all the other special districts managed by VRSD.

The good news is that VRSD has a new general manager and has brought in new interim finance people. The accurate and thorough information they have been providing is a breath of fresh air.

What I'd like to see, however, is a forensic audit of the district's finances because there are gaping holes, and money may have fallen down those holes.

Ratepayers deserve to have the confidence that the money they pay for their water service and sewer service is used appropriately.

To date, the other Triunfo board members have been reluctant to ask the hard questions, or for that matter ask any questions at all.