Water manager gets $12,000 raise

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October 29, 2009

By Patrick McCreless The Cullman Times The Cullman Times Thu Oct 29, 2009, 10:00 AM CDT

CULLMAN — The Cullman County Commission’s lean 2010 fiscal year budget — which includes approximately $300,000 in cuts to sheriff’s office expenses — also includes a $12,000 a year raise to the water department manager’s salary.

The raise, which took effect Oct. 1 along with the budget, increased Cullman County Water Department Manager David Bussman’s annual salary from about $63,000 to $75,000.

To County Commissioner Doug Williams, who approved the raise along with Commissioner Wayne Willingham, Bussman is worth every penny.

“He’s done a great job,” Williams said. “He’s gone to school on his own to get these different levels of state certification at no cost to the county. There are a lot of water systems that don’t have the certification Bussman has. If we were to lose him, we would probably have to pay a lot more to replace him.”

Commission Chairman James Graves said he was unaware of the raise until after the budget was passed and added he likely would not have approved it had he known.

“Right now, the way the budget is, I feel we can’t afford it,” Graves said. “I feel it’s a poor choice to make right now.”

The commission was forced to make cuts to many departments, including a 10 percent cut to the sheriff’s office, due to a decline in sales tax revenue. None of the cuts will result in layoffs or a decrease in services, county officials say.

Graves noted that even if he had known about the raise before the budget approval, he would not have been able to stop it.

“All it takes is signatures from two county commissioners,” he said.

Williams said the raise was approved about a year and a half ago, on the condition Bussman received the proper state certification upgrades.

“The money has been sitting there for a long time,” Williams said.

Williams disputed Graves’ concern that the raise could not be afforded, citing the increase would not come from the general fund, but from the water department fund.

“The sanitation and water departments are self revenue generators,” Williams said.

According to the 2010 budget, 95 percent of the water department’s funding will be generated by water system fees, while the rest will come from various other fees.

Williams said the raise would not impact water rates.

To determine what raise Bussman would receive, Williams said the commission had the Alabama Rural Water Association conduct a salary survey of other water department managers in the state. The survey covered communities similar in size to Cullman County, including Albertville, Athens, Florence, Gadsden, Jasper, Madison, Muscle Shoals and Russellville.

Out of the communities surveyed, Albertville’s water department manager had the highest salary at $123,303, followed by Jasper’s with $100,406, Muscle Shoals with $99,164, Gadsden with $90,829, Athens with $87,488, Madison with $87,435, Russellville with $74,842 and Florence with $70,033.

As manager of the water department, Williams said Bussman supervises the entire water system.

“He makes sure the water meets the proper certifications,” WIlliams said. “He monitors the chlorine ... makes sure all the tanks are maintained and the pumps are maintained.”

Bussman is also in charge of the water department’s accounting.

“His department is not only audited by the state, but also by the feds,” Williams said. “We couldn’t ask for better audits the last couple of years.”

‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.

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Water manager gets $12,000 raise

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