VVWB Price Setting 1992-1999 (2 of 5)

Editors Note: In Nevada, the average purchase of off-Farm Surface Water for 2008 was $7.20 per AFA. By 2013 it has raised to $13.60 per AFA.

Mesquite, NV. July 17, 2018

When formed in 1993, the  Virgin Valley Water District (VVWD)  took assets from the Bunkerville Water User’s Association and the Mesquite Farmstead Water Association (MFWA). Board members of the MFWA included Bunkerville Irrigation Company (BIC) and Mesquite Irrigation Company shareholders (MIC) John Lee, Cresent Hardy, J.L. Bowler, Todd Leavitt and Sam Reber

Lee, Hardy, Bowler, Leavitt and Reber became the first board members of the VVWD. Accounting records for the VVWD show that they passed $75,800 of 1991 and 1992 MFWA purchase expenses for 48 shares of MIC ($434.88 Acre Feet Annually (AFA)) of Virgin River water  to the  ratepayers of the VVWD.  Those purchases included a $99.34 per AFA purchase of 18.12 AFA of from Warren Hughes. The  deals averaged $195 per AFA.

On June 9, 1993, Lee,  Hardy,  Bowler, Leavitt, and Reber, voted to buy MIC and BIC shareholder water for $3,000  per share ($331 per AFA).

On March 28,1996, the VVWB included Reber, Hardy, Cecil and Vinnie Leavitt and Paul Jensen. At that meeting, Bobbi Coughlin approached the board with 12 shares (94 Acre Feet Annually (AFA) of MIC water. She asked for $7,500 per share ($827.81 per AFA). This request erupted into a discussion about the value of a “share.”

Hardy argued that $6,000 per share ($662.25 per AFA) that the City of Mesquite paid for two [MIC] shares was an average and fair market value. He said that Dennis Rider had purchased shares and did not pay over $4,000 per share ($441.50 per AFA). Therefore, he said, $5,000 per share ($551.88) was adequate.

Cecil Leavitt moved to offer the Coughlin $4,000 ($441.50) per share and max out at $5,000 per share ($551.88). Reber seconded the motion, and it carried 4 to 1.  Vinnie Leavitt opposed

Vinnie Leavitt proposed that the fair market value of an acre foot of water would be determined by the VVWD Board of Directors, Erik Beyer, Districts engineer, and General Manager Mike Winters.

Between April 18, 1996 and December 12, 1997, board members Reber, Hardy, Cecil and Vinnie Leavitt, and Paul Jensen spent $242,585.70 on 37 shares ($335.72 per AFA) MIC and Bunkerville Irrigation Company (BIC) water. The prices averaged $711.81 per AFA.

In 1998 Reber, Harold Wittwer, Bill Tanner, Michael Waite replaceed Hardy, Jensen and Vinnie Leavitt.

That year they joined with shareholder Cecil Leavitt to spend $84,846.80 on 13 shares (117.78 AFA) of MIC and BIC shareholder water. The expenditures averaged $709.43 per AFA.

In 1999 , Kathryn Leavitt (replaced Bill Tanner), Charlene Hughes (replaced Michael Waite).  The Leavitt family history was identified in the first article. Here is the Hughes shareholder relationships.

Kathryn Leavitt joined with Cecil Leavitt, Reber, Wittwer  and along with Charlene Hughes they spent $439,060.01 on 208.38 AFA of river water from MIC and BIC shareholders.The average AFA went to $808.60 per AFA.

VVWB purchase history links