Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Big Squeeze


The City of Lake Worth has decided to increase our electric rates every year over the next five years.

They are so concerned about raising money every which way they can and they have by going up on EVERYTHING. They justify what they do by rank comparisons of other municipalities. The best way to get money is squeeze it out of the Utility. They hire Utility Financial Solutions to come up with a “study” that supports their goal.

How much will we be paying each year? What is the increase and how does it affect all of us. Those are the questions.

Right now there is a 3.5% overall increase in effect. That was just voted in last Thursday. The recommendation is as follows:

2010
residential 3.9%
commercial 3.1
private area lights 3.2
street lights 3.9
Community college 0.0
Commercial demand 3.1
Commercial general Supplement 3.1
Commercial demand Supplement 3.1
TOTAL 3.51%

With this new rate adjustment, the City will take in $2,054,374 dollars more in 2010. Repeat this in 2011 and it is projected to increase revenue by $2,122,026 more.

Not only has the City increased your taxes, stormwater, garbage, you name it, but we are subsidizing this "increase everything imaginable solution" by paying a lot for our electricity. There is no excuse for this. We own our own Utility. We should have the cheapest rates around. Obviously, the Utility Department is making up for all the waste…all the millions they have spent unnecessarily building "pipes to no where." They lost $5 million on a utility upgrade and spent more on inferior workmanship. The list is long and the taxpayers of this City have to suffer. And no one can look at the utility budget and figure out the "whys" or "wheres" of it all.

Florida Power and Light provides the cheapest power in the entire State to its customers. Even when we learned that FPL in its latest budget put aside $40.5 million to 42 of its executives, it is still the CHEAPEST power around. This is a public company that must answer to a Board of Directors. It has a CEO who makes a fortune (over $7 million a year) in salary and benefits and still Lake Worth can NOT compete...we are not even close. Why not?

WHERE IS THE AUDIT PROMISED IN 2007?

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