On Tuesday night the CM said that this coming year will be worse than the previous year because of falling property values. This has been affirmed by others. There will be an estimated shortfall of $3.5 mil to the City. But how much money do we really have? Without an Internal Auditor, we will never know.
Raising the electric rates, is the latest rumor/suggestion coming out of City Hall to help get us out of the hole. Yes, I said RAISING the rate.No wonder Ms. Stanton said that we do not want to sell our Utility. It IS a cash cow. If even serious consideration is given to raising our rates or if a rate increase is implemented, it won't be employees on the chopping block this time. It will be 38,000 residents storming the Chamber calling for the City Manager's head.
6 comments:
Rumors such as these should act as a clarion call to all effected citizens. Raising rates to the already highest rates in the state will ensure and assure that LW will never attract residents to fill your vacant homes, nor will it serve to attract business of any kind. This would act as an economy killer of the largest magnitude. (When will these city's learn that you cannot tax yourself into prosperity?)
The city's path out of its eventual bankruptcy filing would be to dissolve the entire work force and permit a management company to control of the utilities. Those affected by the transfer of power could reapply for their current positions, but many would find themselves out on the street as a management company would want a work force far superior to that currently seen in LW.
FPL cannot raise rates unless they get permission from the State. Here in Lake Worth our utility company is holding us hostage. We have no control over the rates that they charge and we are being screwed. Now they want to give it to us real good with another rate increase. The city is forcing people to walk away from their property because they can't afford the utilities. Why rent or own here when you can do it anywhere else and save hundreds. It's time to storm City Hall and throw the bums out. Maybe it is time to throw in the towel amd let the county take us over.
According to the good folks down at the utilties office the city commission is to blame for voting to increase the rates. Didn't Mulvehill and McVoy campaign to LOWER rates? Lynn you need to reach out to your friends on the "best commission ever" to find out what's really going on.
And here's another rumor- there's a rumor the utility could be sold for as much as $300 milliion, with the buyer assuming all the other debt. Why hasn't this ever been publicly discussed as an option? Invested and used wisely that money would last until the city gets back on it's feet and gets turned around, without the albatros of the utility hanging over it's head. The utility has been a disaster for 20 years and there's no inclination it's going to change anytime soon. Throw in the R.O. debacle and we could soon be paying more for utilties than a mortgage. But it's a cash cow for idiots that don't have any viable solutions (see Mulvehill) so they'll continue to increase rates and hurting people.
It is a sin if they raise the rates here any more in this city, I know so many friends and businessmen that will not live or set up shop in this city due to the high utility rates and blight and deplorable conditions, not to mentioned how hard it is to work with the city, codes, permits, etc. The City of Lake Worth is making a huge mistake if they think raising rates even higher is the way to make us a thriving city, the CM needs to be let go now then, if she is doing all of this, it is time for change, we need to change all this hate from her to love, this city and its citizens deserve better than this mediocrity from Stanton and other elected officials, we have a super great charming little city her and great residents and we deserve so much better quality of life and Stanton is not open to this. It is time to change Stanton for a new CM.
This is only a RUMOR. However, sometimes there is actually some validity to unverified information. Too many people have said this about the possibility of another rate increase thus it was thrown out there to ponder.
As far as selling the Utility for $300 Mil, I doubt that very much but we would never know this for a fact without an in-depth study. The CM brought this up on Tues with the FAB board as a waste of their time pursing the possibility of a sale of our utility because "we don't want to do this." I think this would be a perfect thing for them to tackle. There is no way that you know that you don't want to sell an asset or not without financial analysis, etc.
Selling the utility would be the worst mistake the city could make. It is the only asset keeping the city afloat now. Besides, the utility provides the CM and the commission with a sense of power that they could not achieve otherwise. What you need is a good management team and there is no one 'in power' within the city (Commission or Utility) with the ideas required to make the city profitable again.
Does anyone truly believe that the current commission wouldn't waste the $300 million like they have wasted other city assets, i.e., Senior Citizens Center, Shuffle Board Court, etc?????
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