Red Lane approves 2016-17 budget

Wednesday evening during the regular meeting of the Red Lane Watershed Improvement District, the budget was approved for the coming year.

Treasurer Clayton Ferrell explained the budget presented at the meeting was a proposal for 2016-17. According to the report: total expenditures are at $9,500; the General Fund and forecasted revenues are $17,899; and monies received from liens are $7,500.

Ferrell noted an additional $500 in revenue was budgeted, in case anyone gave the district money. There was also $11 worth interest budgeted.

As for expenditures specifically, Ferrell said about $500 is budgeted for Capital Outlay. For Administration, about $1,630 is budgeted. The Operations budget is $6,500, and there is $950 for Indirect Costs. The total proposed in the General Fund is $9,888.

“Out budget’s pretty simple,” Ferrell said. “We get assessments from the county for the tax liens on the property owners in the district.”

The budget is used to maintain the ditches, he said, and capital improvements are made as they can be afforded.

“Unlike other government entities,” he noted, “we run in the black.”

Ferrell explained the district itself is north along Red Lane. “The lower ditch parallels Red Lane itself,” he said, “and the upper ditch cuts off from that and goes out and around.” All of the landowners have access to the hot water, and while some people heat their houses the majority use the water to irrigate and water their livestock.

Regarding capital improvements, Ferrell pointed out the bridge installed, both for safety and ease of access to the lower drain. All of the ditches drain into one main drain, Ferrell explained, and that drain goes from Red Lane all the way to the highway. About midway there has been a gap for years, but the bridge has remedied that.

Additionally, this spring, pipe was purchased and one of the landowners installed it in a ditch. “We’re going to see how that does for a couple years,” Ferrell said.

A big, ongoing issue is ditch maintenance, Ferrell said. “You always have places in the ditch that have to be weed-eated, there’s parts of the ditch that we hire Weed and Pest to take care of the weeds on, and with the upper ditch we try and use weed-eating and mowing as opposed to herbicides.”

In his opinion, the added herbicides have their place but he prefers to use other methods such as mowing and weeding.

Over the past seven years, Ferrell said, work has been done to really turn the district around.