What has the PUD spent on fiber?

Commission candidates spar over a number that's not so black and white

EPHRATA — When it comes to budgets, numbers usually tell the tale.

But in the case of the Grant County PUD's fiber-optics system, those numbers suddenly aren't so black and white. Throw in a heated election for two incumbent commissioners, and two different sides say two different numbers mean the same thing.

Challengers Larry Williamson and Greg Hansen each have run campaigns calling for more accountability in fiber spending. They say the PUD has spent $168 million on fiber through 2003, and they cite the PUD's own accountant.

"The fact that PriceWaterhouse (Coopers, the firm that audited the PUD's books for 2003) have come up with $168 million makes me believe it's close to $168 million," Hansen, who will face incumbent Mike Conley in the November election, said. "I think we've got to go with the upper number. That's the better number to look at."

"The $101 million number is the one that appears to me to be right," Conley said. "People are throwing $168 million out there like it's the right number, and it's not."

Both Conley and fellow incumbent Tom Flint cite the same report as Hansen and Williamson do. The incumbents also point to reports from the PUD's accounting staff, which they say support their case.

So what gives?

Both numbers appear on a balance sheet dated Dec. 31, 2003, supplied by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The figure of $168,606,654 is the largest number on the sheet and is the sum of the dollars invested in capital assets and the long-term payable debt to the electric system.

Laura Lyon, PUD assistant general manager, said the $168.6 million figure is only a subtotal on the balance sheet and does not represent the total expenditures.

Within the $168.6 million figure, $101.2 million of capital infrastructure is duplicated, so PUD accountants subtracted it out, Lyon said.

Lyon said the PUD's accounting met with general Governmental Accounting Standards. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, whose audit is independent from the PUD's accounting, agreed that the PUD's accounting practices conform with general federal standards.

The total capital expenditures for the fiber system at the end of 2003, Lyon said, is $81.4 million.

But that's not the last of this financial fandango. At the request of Commissioner Randy Allred, PUD accountants determined how much the electric system has spent on fiber as of July 31, 2004: $100.1 million.

Hansen said he has taken accounting classes in the past, and he does not understand how the PUD came up with these numbers. And that, he added, is part of the problem.

"There should not this kind of confusion over what is the actual cost," he said.

Williamson said the $101.2 million was borrowed from the electric system in the first place, and he fears it will never be paid back. He said he also fears the expenditures of the fiber system are being made to look as good as possible so as to make fiber look good.

"The better (the numbers) look, the better the public is going to enjoy" the fiber system, Williamson said.

Conley, a banker by trade, said he doesn't understand governmental accounting practices completely, but he trusts the numbers presented to him by his staff.

Flint said opponents had cherry-picked the largest number from the financial sheet so as to make the cost seem as high as possible.

"During the campaign, the opponents have misused financial data to make the fiber program look a lot worse than it really is," Flint said.