Manager of small water district makes $299,005

Serving customers at 350 meters, the Yuima Municipal Water District is among the smallest public water agencies in San Diego County.

It also offers one of the richest compensation plans in the region to its general manager, who runs a staff of eight employees in North County’s Pauma Valley.

Linden Burzell has held Yuima’s top post since 2004 and this year will be paid $299,005 in salary and benefits to manage a $6.9 million budget. That’s slightly more than Jim Sandoval gets for salary and benefits as city manager of Chula Vista, where he manages 972 employees and a $326 million budget serving 210,000 residents.

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Groups File Lawsuit to Block Backroom Water Deal

Fishing, farming and conservation groups today filed a lawsuit seeking to block a secret backroom deal – known as the “Monterey Amendments” – signed by five water contractors along with the Department of Water Resources to undo water contracts underlying voter approved bonds four decades earlier.

This is a historic lawsuit that has the potential to change to way State Water Project water is allocated. Absent court action, contract changes that largely benefit southern San Joaquin Valley corporate irrigators at the expense of urban ratepayers will “trade away ratepayer funded projects and allow massive diversions of water from the Delta charging only pumping costs,” according to a news release from the groups.

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