Why does an OC water district have $1 billion in reserve funds?

Who has a spare $1 billion kicking up interest in investments and securities? None other than the Irvine Ranch Water District which, back in 2000, got scolded for hoarding its wealth. More in the OC Register:

Back in 2000, a state watchdog commission wagged its finger at the Irvine Ranch Water District, branding it one of the richest special districts in California.

Back then, Irvine Ranch had reserves three times greater than its annual operating budget, the Little Hoover Commission tsk-tsked.

Can you say “howling in the wind”?

Irvine Ranch’s 2007 audit reveals that there was $1 billion tucked away in securities and investments. That’s more than 10 times its annual operating budget, and about nine times its capital projects budget.

Water district officials say they need the cash for pending projects. And though they dispute the arithmetic that led to that $1 billion figure, the OC blogger sticks to her guns. Read the rest in the addictive OC Watchdog.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Hypergurl / Flickr, via Creative Commons