"THE WEIGHT" the band
Take a load for free
And you put the load right on me
Well attended the council work session Monday at 5:00 pm.
Meeting showed a lot of graphs and load amounts. Usual stuff.
Dawn Lund Vice President of Utility Financial Solutions LLC the company hired by Painesville to evaluate our electric department. Everything from fixed costs, labor, depreciation, PCA everything she will evaluate in the coming months.
One thing I kept hearing about was maybe our charges are to low? Never heard to high.
The model we use to set our electric rates with was a 1992 model, and presently no one at City Hall can find it to see what was exactly the numbers were used to set our electric prices. So Ms. Lund will be flying blind as she runs all the numbers. To her credit she claimed that the PCA should never be within a few dollars of your standard bill. She explained Painesville has three basic prices. Residential, Commercial, and Industrial.
A resident asked if there was a site where he could see those rates? Presently the City doesn't have a site where a resident can see those numbers. They should
Being a Municipal owed utility those number's should be available to residents.
Ms. Lund will look into all costs associated with our electric utility. Fixed costs, depreciation, equipment and labor.
I questioned labor how are you going to do that if workers are preforming duties in other departments? Ms. Irelan told me that labor at the plant was a fixed cost? I question the legality of all this if we can't take profits of our electric division to fix roads how do we let the electric department pay for employee's not doing plant work?
Now let me explain right now I believe right now our Power Plant is the most valuable thing in the city. I see our Power Grid hacked by someone in the near future and it would be to our benefit if we are able to produce power on our own.
Looking on the internet I found a site in Westerville, Ohio who published all he revenue percentages of all Municipal power plants in Ohio, yes including Painesville.
Myself I believe Painesville is making a healthy profit on our utilities lets see what Dawn comes up with?
posted by terminator1 @ 9:14 AM
13 Comments
13 Comments:
In the Codified Ordinances of the City of Painesville, Part Nine, Title Three, Chapter 929, the City's electric rates are spelled out in quite a bit of detail. This is available from the City's website. I found it in less then five minutes.
So we have rates based on 1992 figures that no one can seem to find?
Any "real" company has all the numbers they need at their fingertips.
I can be very sure that when First Energy goes before the PUCO on a rate increase, they have all the documentation that the regulators could possible ask for.
In the 'ville we don't need to bother with any of this because our Council can set whatever rate they want based on whatever hook-pocus is presented to them by the folks under the dome.
Just like the last refuse contract, this all seems a little shady.
4:08 Good job! Now feel free to post them here.
7:14 Don't even need the council all left to city manager. And your stuck with us.
a city worker told me the electric plant buys police cars for the city because they patrol the plant?
12:5 I will refer your question to council members, they should know?
12: after a terse reply from a council member who suggested I only sent a request to one council member. (but their reply is sent to the other 6) They suggested I ask Andy Unetic in the future? OR go to Ohio Checkbook. But the answer is NO no funds were ever used to purchase patrol vehicles from any electric fund!
You asked the wrong question. You asked if electric money was used to buy a patrol car. The answer is No. You should have asked, has electric funds ever been sent or transfered to the Police Department. That answer is, YES
6:37 Why am I not surprised I did it wrong?
So now you can take it the next step as I have shown you above.
Must not be a real problem here, else Term woulda jumped right on it instead of peddling it off on 637. So if one request is made and replies sent to 6, is that a meeting then?
12:07 They can ask as easily as I can.
There was a reason for that "terse reply", you asked at a special council meeting why not hire policemen and pay them out of the Electric Fund? You touched a nerve.
SECTION 167.06 COMPENSATION DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS - SPECIAL POLICE OFFICER/SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR 20% of pay from general fund, 15% from water fund, 15% from sewer fund and 50% FROM ELECTRIC FUND! The CM only receives 35% from Electric.How in the world does a police officer earn 50% from electric?
Can anyone tell me the difference between a SPECIAL POLICE OFFICER/SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR and a regular Painesville City beat cop? Other than the fact the cop is paid out of the general fund and the SPO/SO gets 80% pay from Utilities?
The CM and other administrators receive 35% of their pay from Electric. I seem to remember a councilman asking Rita McMahon why not tap the Electric Fund for a greater percentage? I'm not positive, but I think her reply was that's the most we can use under the guidelines of the Ohio State Revised Code. Why would a police officer be allowed a greater percent?
Well, Mr. Terminator, this time you asked the right question. "How can the City justify paying 50% of two policemen/switch operators from the Electric Fund?
And once again you got a nonanswer. The CM said it's "very common and typical" that a portion of her salary come from the Ultility Departments. True, but how many Ohio Cities pay Police out of the Ultility Funds? I would venture to guess zero. It's against the Ohio State Revised Code. Councilman Deleone bragged about how this was discussed transparently. That's BS. Show us where in the meeting minutes that was transparently discussed.
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