Padre Profile: Ben Brugman

As we begin a new Fiscal Year our Padre Profile for this month highlights the important tasks of the District's Accounting Specialist Ben Brugman. Ben has worked at Padre Dam since 2015 and has the opportunity to work on multiple aspects of accounting, including accounts payable, vendor billing, financial reporting and payroll. Ben and the finance team help ensure financial stability while safeguarding the District's assets.

"Maintaining our system and ensuring reliable water and wastewater service for our customers has many costs that must be budgeted and managed," Ben explains. "It's our job to ensure operations are done in a cost effective manner and within the District's budget."

This is the busiest time of year for Ben and the District's finance team, as they work on year-end reporting for the past fiscal year which ended in June and prepare for auditors to review prior year financials. Ben completes reports on District financials for State and Federal agencies including the IRS, the State of California and the San Diego County Water Authority.

The Finance Department is responsible for keeping track of all of Padre Dam's assets. Each piece of water, wastewater and recycled water infrastructure, from valves to reservoirs must be assessed and financially valued.

"We have approximately $700 million in infrastructure that needs to be evaluated and tracked," Ben said. "This helps us determine what we need to budget for future years in order to continue to provide high quality services to our customers."

Ben also enjoys leveraging technology to make his department and the District more efficient. He is currently working on implementing a new program that will help him streamline his work by improving work processes among multiple departments to become more efficient, as well as improve communication within the Finance Department.

"I am grateful to work for an innovative forward thinking organization that is trying to ensure a reliable water supply," Ben comments. "The mantra here is sustainability and that is so important to everyone."

An East County native, Ben is currently earning his MBA with an emphasis in Accounting at San Diego State University. In his free time he enjoys tailgating at SDSU football games with his wife and friends.