It looks like flip/flops might be the proper attire for one person up for election in Pierre next week.
I must have moved from Pierre a little too early, as I missed this wild ride of a city commission meeting.
As part of the setup, the city recently proposed raising fees on electrical late fees and reconnections. In some cases, they'd be raised nearly 1000%! Democratic Mayor Dennis Eisnach has wavered back and forth on the issue, while Commissioner Stan Schwellenbach had come out strongly in favor of them, and made no bones about it. 1000% increase? "That might be a good thing." Good. Let them eat cake.
But wait a minute..... Stan's also up for re-election next week.
From the Capital Journal (May 16th):
As part of the setup, the city recently proposed raising fees on electrical late fees and reconnections. In some cases, they'd be raised nearly 1000%! Democratic Mayor Dennis Eisnach has wavered back and forth on the issue, while Commissioner Stan Schwellenbach had come out strongly in favor of them, and made no bones about it. 1000% increase? "That might be a good thing." Good. Let them eat cake.
But wait a minute..... Stan's also up for re-election next week.
From the Capital Journal (May 16th):
Schwellenbach said fees need to be raised because it's been almost 25 years since they've gone up, and they city is not making enough money on some of the services it provides.Read that all here. But what a difference a day makes. Or, possibly it's just two weeks closer to the election. From the Capital Journal on May 30th:
and...
However, Naze said the proposed increases are too high and should be adjusted for inflation - which in many cases would mean smaller increases - rather than the needs of the city to recoup costs.
"I would oppose, definitely, that high of fees for people," he said. "I could see an increase as far as inflationary dollars. The inflation price on that cannot be 100 percent, like some of them are suggesting, or 1000 percent."
and...
Schwellenbach said that might not be a bad thing.
The commission voted 3-2 in favor of leaving the reconnect fees the same for those who've had their power turned off because of a delinquent bill. Eisnach, Jason Glodt and Stan Schwellenbach were the three "yes" votes and Larry Weiss and Laurie Gill were the two "no" votes at the regularly scheduled meeting.Read that here. Sure.... It has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the election. It's ALL about credit counseling. *cough* baloney... *cough*
and..
Schwellenbach - who is up for re-election next week - has said in the past that he was for the reconnect fee raise because the city gives residents plenty of notice before their power is turned off. However, after the meeting he said the election is not the reason he voted against the fees.
The commissioner said he changed his mind after talking to the mayor about the issue and learning about the possible credit counseling.
Comments
Two other points: by the time the Bush Administration finishes screwing with the Missouri River dam power system, and by the time 50% more coal fired generation is added and new technology brought on line to make it cleaner, the monthly bill adders you are talking about on this blog are going to seem trivial. The average ratepayer will be better off by keeping the focus on those big picture issues, and Dennis is extremely qualified to be the point man on that stuff, which is about 70% of the bill.
Second point: anyone who actually runs a utility will tell you that there are some people who are good credit risks who fall behind on their bills for legitimate reasons (medical bills, loss of job, divorce, etc). There are others who chronically game the system. You work with the former case by case and you'll get the money. However, when you have someone who chronically games the system, you need to crunch them with disconnect/reconnect fees high enough to make sure that no other ratepayer suffers for their irresponsibility.
One solution is to install prepaid meters on chronically delinquent accounts. It's a win/win deal. The customer has a mag stripe card they bring to the utility office to load on credits. When it gets low, they get a refill. It spares them the cost of disconnect / reconnect, it helps them learn to budget, and the affected customers actually like it because it allows them to save money AND keep their dignity intact.
Clients around the country with whom I've worked who have gone to prepaid meters for troubled accounts uniformly report that it works. I don't know whether state law allows this in SD, but it's worth checking into.
Eisnach good. Coal bad. Clean coal bad, but not as bad. Bush administration bad. Bush very very bad.
Go hug a tree.