First and foremost, as The Bee has publicized, my fellow board members have enacted the "Serpa Rule," which restricts me to the same limited information that any member of the public can walk into the MID and receive. This posture, which curbs a board member from receiving detailed information to consider budget decisions, enact policies and provide operational oversight, would be laughable, if it were not so seriously irrational.

Since being elected to the MID board, based on the information I have received, I can say that the ratepayers are most assuredly being overcharged to subsidize past actions.

Ratepayers of the original district are subsidizing Oakdale industrial users (according to information provided by staff), Mountain House users, runaway computer projects and revenue-sharing with the expansion area. Last year, the board gave the general manager a generous raise, while the general manager was not supportive of raises for his employees. No line-item budget exists that I have seen. Senior management held a retreat to consider key issues facing the district. Although I requested information on the retreat and its discussions, I have not even received a summary.

Past boards may not have bothered with details, which could explain some of our problems. However, I am not willing to consider any matter, and certainly not one committing this much of the ratepayers' money, without full and complete information. I am not willing to make the easy decision blindly and pass the cost on to the ratepayers.

So, The Bee rightly points out one pressing issue among many. However, based on what little information I have received to date, there appear to be too many other issues that are causing the original ratepayers, those not in the expansion areas, to pay much more than they should. It is causing them to suffer from runaway rate increases to cover runaway spending.

To rationalize all of this, the board seems to have relied on the fact that MID's rates are lower than PG&E's rates. On the farm, we call this hogwash.

I believe the obligation of the board is to use the district's resources to, and for, the benefit of the ratepayers. Someone is benefiting from the district's resources, while my constituents are being shortchanged; if they don't know it, they're going to know it.

If the district is serious about getting my vote, I need a detailed operating budget, and the district's short- and long-term plans in whatever form they exist. This is to ensure that the Westley-Rosemore project fits into our long-term plan and, at the very least, protects the ratepayers going forward.

Come on, folks, isn't it a bit disingenuous to deny a policy-maker's requests for information and then chide him for not voting for the pet project of the week? Why isn't The Bee clamoring for full and complete disclosures to the ratepayers-owners of this utility? Without more complete information -- and I have repeatedly told the board -- I will be voting "no" when the issue comes to us for a vote.

Serpa represents Division 2 on the MID board.