01/26/2005
Mayor says tax hike imperative despite uncollected income tax issues
MIKE SAKAL , Morning Journal Writer
LORAIN -- A major issue in the last mayor's race was uncollected income taxes. Incumbent Craig Foltin put the figure between $1.7 million to $6 million. Challenger Joe Koziura scoffed at that amount.
Foltin emerged victorious in 2003, but nagging questions persist over whether there's a huge windfall of revenue just waiting to be collected. Those questions are complicating the mayor's campaign to pass a quarter percent income tax increase in the Feb. 8 special election.
Advertisement
Click to learn more...
Foltin says he believes there are still uncollected taxes out there, but isn't sure of an amount, and quickly adds that it is ''imperative'' that voters pass the income tax hike less than two weeks from now.
''We don't want to do anything to jeopardize the tax,'' Foltin said. ''We desperately need this tax.''
Faced with a $2.9 million deficit, a stack of unpaid bills and IOUs, and the annual loss of $2.2 million in taxes when Fold Motor Co. shuts down its Lorain Assembly Plant starting this summer, city officials are pinning their hopes on the $2.4 million a year the tax hike would generate over the next five years. If it fails, Foltin said he will lay off 18 police officers, 18 firefighters, close the parks and recreation department and the three city pools.
The tax hike will be put before voters in an Aug. 2 special election if it is rejected in February, Foltin said.
Foltin jumped on the uncollected tax issue after state auditors said the city could be missing out on as much as $6 million. The mayor parlayed that into a campaign to hire the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA) to take over the city's tax collection activities, which was fiercely opposed by Lorain Treasurer Lori Maiorana.
A report on a performance audit of the city recommended that Lorain either allow Maiorana's office to beef up its resources with new computer software and two full-time employees or go with an outside collection agency.
Maiorana said nowhere near that amount of money was out there, adding that to bring in $1.7 million more on the city's current 1.75 percent income tax rate there would have to be $98 million in unreported payroll income floating around Lorain.
''The money isn't out there in uncollected income tax,'' Maiorana said. ''I've said that all along. We are collecting all the tax money we can. As far as we believe, there is no extra tax money to be found.''
After his re-election, Foltin organized a seven-member volunteer committee of community leaders as the Uncollected Income Tax Task Force, which listened to both the advantages and disadvantages of hiring RITA.
After reviewing information and listening to various mayors of other cities who had supported and opposed RITA, the committee recommended that Maiorana be given the opportunity to purchase the necessary software and be given 18 months to see if she could turn things around.
Foltin says it is too early to say whether the issue of hiring RITA should be revisited in July when the committee is tentatively scheduled to review the progress of Maiorana's office in collecting income taxes.
''It is premature to say whether the issue would be revisited,'' Foltin said. ''I said I would stick by the committee's decision, and that is what I'm doing.''
''I haven't reviewed Auditor Ron Mantini's city's financial numbers at the end of the year, yet,'' Foltin added. ''He, I and City Council will review those numbers and see how the tax collection is going.''
Soon after the committee made its recommendation, City Council approved of Maiorana spending $100,000 for computer software, and so far she said she has spent $47,000 for the computer software, according to Mantini.
Maiorana said the software was installed in June, but she has only netted the city $75,000 in extra taxes delinquent from 2003 using the new software, and that she has yet to complete a full year using it.
Brian Baker, president of the IBEW Local 129, who chaired the uncollected income tax task force, said on Monday that the committee would reconvene to review the progress if asked.
''We'd go back and take a look at it to see if every effort was made to collect the money,'' Baker said. ''We were put there to make a recommendation.''
Other committee members are Brian Lockwood, CEO of Community Health Partners; attorney Jim Miraldi; Ben Norton, formerly of Lorain Products; Jean Wrice, president of the Lorain Chapter of the NAACP; Raul Ramos of Lorain County Community College; and Jim Kidd, president of Lorain National Bank.
Miraldi said that he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize the income tax issue, but said that the committee would reconvene if asked to review Maiorana's progress.
''No matter what's been uncollected, there's too many businesses that have been laying off and closing their doors, so the city has been losing out on revenue,'' Miraldi said. ''We were formed as a consensus building committee, but we didn't think there were millions out there. With the new schools construction project going on, we thought that there might be some extra money out there to go after.
''We didn't think that hiring RITA would've been an end-all for the city,'' Miraldi added. ''There's a lot of variables out there.''
Maiorana said she still needs two more employees in her office. She hired an additional employee last year, but was down two again when another employee retired on disability, according to Mantini.
Maiorana said the new computer software has allowed her better tracking capabilities, but that it doesn't identify delinquent taxpayers.
''A computer can't find money,'' Maiorana said. ''It doesn't beep when someone walks by on the street who isn't paying their taxes and it doesn't go into houses to search for money. The software gives you the capability of better tax reporting. Your income tax collections are only as good as the information you input into the computer.''
Councilman Tony Krasienko, D-3, who is the chairman of council's Finance and Claims Committee, also closely weighed the options of whether the city should hire RITA.
Krasienko said the new computer software in Maiorana's office has allowed the city to catch ''some'' of the taxpayers who have fallen through the cracks.
''We're catching more of the people who haven't filed, but not people who owe a lot of money,'' Krasienko said. ''We've added more tax filers, but not a lot of money.''
Krasienko said he didn't believe there were millions of dollars in unpaid taxes owed to the city, and if the city had hired RITA, it would have been waiting longer for taxes due to the city.
''If we would've hired RITA, it would've put our cash flow in dire straights,'' Krasienko said. ''RITA would've released the money to us 30 to 45 days after collecting it. Some days, the city was waiting on the income tax to come in to meet the city's payroll.''
''By allowing the treasurer to get the new software, it just proved that if given the proper equipment, the job of collecting taxes can be done in-house,'' Krasienko said.
Jim Schwab, a senior research associate for the American Planning Association in Washington, D.C., said the key for a city to make up for lost revenue is to diversify its economic base.
Schwab acknowledged that Lorain looking at losing $2.2 million a year in income tax from Ford leaving is ''a pretty severe blow.''
''A city with a diverse industrial base is less likely to take such a hit in revenue when an auto plant or manufacturing plant closes down,'' Schwab said. ''Steel and auto plants pose more challenges to convert into other facilities when they close. The more reliant you are on one or two types of industry, the more difficult the revenue is to replace ...''
Lorain's unemployment rate remained the highest in Lorain County at 9.1 percent at the end of 2004, according to Lillian Riggs, manager for the Lorain Bureau of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Of Lorain's labor force of 33,000 or employable workers, 30,000 of those people are working and 3,000 are unemployed, according to Riggs.
At the end of 2003, Lorain's unemployment rate was 9.6 percent, Riggs said
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Former IBEW Local Union 324 (Longview TX) President, Brother Ken Burkhalter, Sr. Passes on at 85
KENNETH V. BURKHALTER SR.
EDINBURG — Kenneth V. Burkhalter Sr. was born on Sept. 7, 1919, in Simms, Texas. After graduating from New Boston High School, he attended Tarleton State College before entering the U.S. Army Corps in 1943. Following his services in England during World War II, he began his career as an electrician in Chicago in 1952. Mr. Burkhalter and his family moved to the East Texas area for his employment in Longview, Texas, and later at Thiokol Chemical. While living in Karnack, Texas, he was very active in his local church, Lions Club, Boy Scouts and all the sports activities of his sons. During his dedicated career, he became affectionately known by his coworkers by the nickname "Burke." After enjoying a satisfactory career, which included a stint as president of the local IBEW Union while employed at Thiokol Chemical, Burke retired from Riley Beaird in Shreveport, La. In 1985, Burke and his wife, Mary, moved to Mission, where they enjoyed their retirement.
Mr. Burkhalter passed away on Jan. 22, 2005, at the age of 85 at Mission Nursing Home in Mission. He was preceded in death by his son, Richard A. Burkhalter, and his wife of 58 years, Mary E. Ludolph Burkhalter. He is survived by his sons, Kenneth V. Burkhalter Jr. and Robert E. Burkhalter; his daughter-in-law, Sharon K. Burkhalter; and three grandchildren, Sara D. Burkhalter, Ryan S. Burkhalter, and Keri L. Burkhalter. Cremation services will be performed by the Gonzalez Family Funeral Home in Edinburg. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the local Alzheimer’s Society.
EDINBURG — Kenneth V. Burkhalter Sr. was born on Sept. 7, 1919, in Simms, Texas. After graduating from New Boston High School, he attended Tarleton State College before entering the U.S. Army Corps in 1943. Following his services in England during World War II, he began his career as an electrician in Chicago in 1952. Mr. Burkhalter and his family moved to the East Texas area for his employment in Longview, Texas, and later at Thiokol Chemical. While living in Karnack, Texas, he was very active in his local church, Lions Club, Boy Scouts and all the sports activities of his sons. During his dedicated career, he became affectionately known by his coworkers by the nickname "Burke." After enjoying a satisfactory career, which included a stint as president of the local IBEW Union while employed at Thiokol Chemical, Burke retired from Riley Beaird in Shreveport, La. In 1985, Burke and his wife, Mary, moved to Mission, where they enjoyed their retirement.
Mr. Burkhalter passed away on Jan. 22, 2005, at the age of 85 at Mission Nursing Home in Mission. He was preceded in death by his son, Richard A. Burkhalter, and his wife of 58 years, Mary E. Ludolph Burkhalter. He is survived by his sons, Kenneth V. Burkhalter Jr. and Robert E. Burkhalter; his daughter-in-law, Sharon K. Burkhalter; and three grandchildren, Sara D. Burkhalter, Ryan S. Burkhalter, and Keri L. Burkhalter. Cremation services will be performed by the Gonzalez Family Funeral Home in Edinburg. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the local Alzheimer’s Society.
Hawaii' IBEW Local 1357 (Honolulu, HI) members' Pensions face loss of $280 million if Verizon pulls out "excess"
Posted on: Monday, January 24, 2005
Verizon pension excess: $280M
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Verizon Communications Inc. could take with it as much as $280 million in excess pension money should a sale of the state's largest phone company go through this year.
Verizon Hawaii's pension has been invested skillfully in the past 15 years and built up an excess beyond what the company is required by law to maintain. That opens the door for the parent company, Verizon Communications, to pull out nearly half of the $587 million pension fund when it sells Verizon Hawaii and still leave the pension flush.
Some Verizon Hawaii workers, however, fear that taking away the extra pension money could leave employees with less of a safety net.
Siphoning off the excess funds could also increase the risk of higher phone rates. Should the pension fund decline below acceptable levels in the future, telephone rates might have to be raised to make it flush again.
"The significant increase in projected future pension costs ... represents a major detriment to consumers," according to state Public Utilities Commission consumer advocate John Cole.
The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investment company, offered last year to buy most of Verizon Hawaii's operations for $1.65 billion. The sale is awaiting regulatory approval, which could come as early as next month.
Under plans disclosed by Verizon Communications, the company would keep excess pension money — estimated at $280 million at the end of 2003 — once the deal closes.
This comes at a time when pension problems are escalating nationwide with companies such as United Airlines, US Airways and General Motors facing billions of dollars in pension shortfalls on stock-market losses.
"If you hit a downturn in the market or investments ... that money has to come from somebody," said Scot Long, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1357, which represents 1,300 of Verizon's 1,700 employees. "That risk is removed if that (entire) fund is moved over (when the company is sold)."
The drawdown on the excess pension funds is legal.
The pension fund — which totaled $587 million at the end of 2003 — was created in part by money collected from Hawai'i consumers and Verizon workers. However, much of the excess also is a result of the fund's investments performing well.
The money gained through investments has more than covered the money needed to pay about 1,300 retired and 1,300 active Verizon Hawaii workers. Verizon and its predecessor, GTE, have not had to put money into the pension plan for at least 15 years.
Any withdrawal of that excess money from the current pension plan could be subject to federal income and excise tax on pension distributions. Those taxes were created during the 1980s after several companies were bought specifically for their fat pension funds, said Norman Stein, a pension law expert at the University of Alabama School of Law.
However, Verizon likely could avoid paying taxes on excess pension money by terminating the current plan and transferring its assets to another pension plan, Stein said.
"There are ways around the taxes," Stein said.
Among the options open to Verizon is using the excess pension money to cover new groups of employees, Stein said. The company also could shift employees from other underfunded plans to the over funded plan or use the extra to offer early retirement packages or severance in the future.
"They're obviously planning to do something with the money," Stein said. "If they don't have a plan, they should have one."
Although Verizon said it had no plans to shift the Verizon Hawaii pension to a fund covering Mainland workers, the company does face escalating pension issues. Through the nine months ended Sept. 30 Verizon recorded a pretax pension settlement loss of $792 million partly from separation packages offered to more than 21,000 workers, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
And earlier this month Verizon warned that pension and post-retirement costs corporatewide would increase 10 cents to 14 cents a share this year.
Verizon Communications made it clear when it offered to sell Verizon Hawaii that the excess pension money would not be included in the deal, according to Carlyle.
"This is an issue that frankly we don't have a lot of control over," said Bill Kennard, managing director for Carlyle. "When we wanted to buy this company Verizon said that we will give you a fully funded pension plan for the hourly workers. It's overfunded and we're taking the overfunding back."
Kennard added that he doesn't think losing the excess pension money will lead to higher costs for consumers or employees.
"We have built into our financial model ample resources to take what we will have at closing, which is a fully funded pension, and continue to fund it going forward so the employees won't be at risk in any way and the rate payers won't be at risk," he said.
Such assurances haven't allayed concerns of Verizon workers such as George Waialeale.
"It's the Verizon employees' pension fund," said Waialeale, an outspoken critic of the sale. "It doesn't say employer's pension fund. Who put the money there? The PUC (Public Utilities Commission). It should be for all the (remaining) employees," said the 37-year Verizon employee.
Larry Frolik, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who specializes in pension law, said he understood the concerns expressed by 1,300 or so Verizon workers who would be covered under the new pension plan.
"If you're a worker, you're much more comfortable with a surplus pension," he said. "You could end up underfunded. That's why the unions are always worried about it."
If there were a pension shortfall, "in theory you could always go back and ask for a rate increase and then that would fall on the consumer," Frolik said.
Reach Sean Hao at 525-8093 or shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Back
© COPYRIGHT 2005 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Verizon pension excess: $280M
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Verizon Communications Inc. could take with it as much as $280 million in excess pension money should a sale of the state's largest phone company go through this year.
Verizon Hawaii's pension has been invested skillfully in the past 15 years and built up an excess beyond what the company is required by law to maintain. That opens the door for the parent company, Verizon Communications, to pull out nearly half of the $587 million pension fund when it sells Verizon Hawaii and still leave the pension flush.
Some Verizon Hawaii workers, however, fear that taking away the extra pension money could leave employees with less of a safety net.
Siphoning off the excess funds could also increase the risk of higher phone rates. Should the pension fund decline below acceptable levels in the future, telephone rates might have to be raised to make it flush again.
"The significant increase in projected future pension costs ... represents a major detriment to consumers," according to state Public Utilities Commission consumer advocate John Cole.
The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investment company, offered last year to buy most of Verizon Hawaii's operations for $1.65 billion. The sale is awaiting regulatory approval, which could come as early as next month.
Under plans disclosed by Verizon Communications, the company would keep excess pension money — estimated at $280 million at the end of 2003 — once the deal closes.
This comes at a time when pension problems are escalating nationwide with companies such as United Airlines, US Airways and General Motors facing billions of dollars in pension shortfalls on stock-market losses.
"If you hit a downturn in the market or investments ... that money has to come from somebody," said Scot Long, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1357, which represents 1,300 of Verizon's 1,700 employees. "That risk is removed if that (entire) fund is moved over (when the company is sold)."
The drawdown on the excess pension funds is legal.
The pension fund — which totaled $587 million at the end of 2003 — was created in part by money collected from Hawai'i consumers and Verizon workers. However, much of the excess also is a result of the fund's investments performing well.
The money gained through investments has more than covered the money needed to pay about 1,300 retired and 1,300 active Verizon Hawaii workers. Verizon and its predecessor, GTE, have not had to put money into the pension plan for at least 15 years.
Any withdrawal of that excess money from the current pension plan could be subject to federal income and excise tax on pension distributions. Those taxes were created during the 1980s after several companies were bought specifically for their fat pension funds, said Norman Stein, a pension law expert at the University of Alabama School of Law.
However, Verizon likely could avoid paying taxes on excess pension money by terminating the current plan and transferring its assets to another pension plan, Stein said.
"There are ways around the taxes," Stein said.
Among the options open to Verizon is using the excess pension money to cover new groups of employees, Stein said. The company also could shift employees from other underfunded plans to the over funded plan or use the extra to offer early retirement packages or severance in the future.
"They're obviously planning to do something with the money," Stein said. "If they don't have a plan, they should have one."
Although Verizon said it had no plans to shift the Verizon Hawaii pension to a fund covering Mainland workers, the company does face escalating pension issues. Through the nine months ended Sept. 30 Verizon recorded a pretax pension settlement loss of $792 million partly from separation packages offered to more than 21,000 workers, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
And earlier this month Verizon warned that pension and post-retirement costs corporatewide would increase 10 cents to 14 cents a share this year.
Verizon Communications made it clear when it offered to sell Verizon Hawaii that the excess pension money would not be included in the deal, according to Carlyle.
"This is an issue that frankly we don't have a lot of control over," said Bill Kennard, managing director for Carlyle. "When we wanted to buy this company Verizon said that we will give you a fully funded pension plan for the hourly workers. It's overfunded and we're taking the overfunding back."
Kennard added that he doesn't think losing the excess pension money will lead to higher costs for consumers or employees.
"We have built into our financial model ample resources to take what we will have at closing, which is a fully funded pension, and continue to fund it going forward so the employees won't be at risk in any way and the rate payers won't be at risk," he said.
Such assurances haven't allayed concerns of Verizon workers such as George Waialeale.
"It's the Verizon employees' pension fund," said Waialeale, an outspoken critic of the sale. "It doesn't say employer's pension fund. Who put the money there? The PUC (Public Utilities Commission). It should be for all the (remaining) employees," said the 37-year Verizon employee.
Larry Frolik, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who specializes in pension law, said he understood the concerns expressed by 1,300 or so Verizon workers who would be covered under the new pension plan.
"If you're a worker, you're much more comfortable with a surplus pension," he said. "You could end up underfunded. That's why the unions are always worried about it."
If there were a pension shortfall, "in theory you could always go back and ask for a rate increase and then that would fall on the consumer," Frolik said.
Reach Sean Hao at 525-8093 or shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Back
© COPYRIGHT 2005 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Anti-worker Employer-Association ABC Takes Swipe AT IBEW Local 103 (Boston) by misrepresenting "Big Dig"
Public grievance: Billboard takes swipe at union-only construction projects
By JON CHESTO
The Patriot Ledger
BOSTON - At first glance, it might not be easy to see the link between the Big Dig and your town's latest school building project.
But a construction trade group is hoping that a billboard message will help commuters on the Southeast Expressway make that connection.
Associated Builders and Contractors, a group that represents many non-union construction firms, put up a billboard message in Dorchester yesterday aimed squarely at special agreements that some cities and towns make with labor unions.
The sign refers to the now-infamous leaks in the new Interstate 93 tunnel, asking drivers if they enjoy their ‘‘$15 billion car wash.''
ABC says the Big Dig project was built under a union-only ‘‘project labor agreement,'' and the group claims that similar deals that make it hard for non-union shops to bid for work could threaten the quality and cost of future school projects.
‘‘The most important thing is to ensure open competition among the entire industry,'' said Gregory Beeman, president of the Massachusetts ABC chapter. ‘‘The only thing that is a sure thing is that costs are going to increase because the pool of bidders is going to be restricted.''
Beeman said the billboard message targets South Shore commuters, in part, because of the amount of union activity in the area. He cited a series of recent school projects in Milton, as well as a pending high school project in Quincy, that he expects will be done with union workers.
The group is paying about $14,000 for the billboard near the South Bay shopping center above the southbound side of the Southeast Expressway through mid-February, Beeman said.
He said the group is ramping up its lobbying efforts because state and local officials are embarking on a long waiting list of school building projects.
The billboard is located near the Dorchester offices of Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.Local 103 business manager Michael Monahan criticized ABC's campaign, calling it misleading and inaccurate. He said project labor agreements help ensure a level of experience and training among the construction workers at a given site.
‘‘The schools that were done under project labor agreements, by far, come in on time, under budget and do not have delays in school openings,'' Monahan said.
Monahan, for one, wasn't buying the connection between the Big Dig and the state's school building program.
‘‘They're trying to sway public opinion on project labor agreements based on the biggest (public) engineering feat known to mankind,'' Monahan said. ‘‘To try and make an analogy that the project labor agreement on a school is going to have the same problems, I don't think is fair. ... You can't compare the two.''
Jon Chesto may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.
Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Wednesday, January 26, 2005
By JON CHESTO
The Patriot Ledger
BOSTON - At first glance, it might not be easy to see the link between the Big Dig and your town's latest school building project.
But a construction trade group is hoping that a billboard message will help commuters on the Southeast Expressway make that connection.
Associated Builders and Contractors, a group that represents many non-union construction firms, put up a billboard message in Dorchester yesterday aimed squarely at special agreements that some cities and towns make with labor unions.
The sign refers to the now-infamous leaks in the new Interstate 93 tunnel, asking drivers if they enjoy their ‘‘$15 billion car wash.''
ABC says the Big Dig project was built under a union-only ‘‘project labor agreement,'' and the group claims that similar deals that make it hard for non-union shops to bid for work could threaten the quality and cost of future school projects.
‘‘The most important thing is to ensure open competition among the entire industry,'' said Gregory Beeman, president of the Massachusetts ABC chapter. ‘‘The only thing that is a sure thing is that costs are going to increase because the pool of bidders is going to be restricted.''
Beeman said the billboard message targets South Shore commuters, in part, because of the amount of union activity in the area. He cited a series of recent school projects in Milton, as well as a pending high school project in Quincy, that he expects will be done with union workers.
The group is paying about $14,000 for the billboard near the South Bay shopping center above the southbound side of the Southeast Expressway through mid-February, Beeman said.
He said the group is ramping up its lobbying efforts because state and local officials are embarking on a long waiting list of school building projects.
The billboard is located near the Dorchester offices of Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.Local 103 business manager Michael Monahan criticized ABC's campaign, calling it misleading and inaccurate. He said project labor agreements help ensure a level of experience and training among the construction workers at a given site.
‘‘The schools that were done under project labor agreements, by far, come in on time, under budget and do not have delays in school openings,'' Monahan said.
Monahan, for one, wasn't buying the connection between the Big Dig and the state's school building program.
‘‘They're trying to sway public opinion on project labor agreements based on the biggest (public) engineering feat known to mankind,'' Monahan said. ‘‘To try and make an analogy that the project labor agreement on a school is going to have the same problems, I don't think is fair. ... You can't compare the two.''
Jon Chesto may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.
Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Wednesday, January 26, 2005
New Jersey IBEW Linemen sit out the Storm because Company Won't deal
http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_024170452.html
1010 WINS - New York's All News Station | 1010wins.com
JCP&L Weathers Storm While Workers Strike
Jan 24, 2005 4:49 pm US/Eastern
BC-NJ--JCP&LStrike Bjt
01-24 0706 BC-NJ--JCP&L Strike, Bjt,680 AP Photo stfjcbn By JOHN CURRAN Associated Press Writer
The snow was falling, but Jersey Central Power & Light lineman Bill Perry was at home. He wasn't out in the cold, lifting tree limbs off power lines or running wire or working on a road project.
For Perry, 53, of Jackson, one of 1,350 union members on strike against the Morristown-based utility company, the weekend's winter weather didn't mean overtime or treacherous duty. It just underscored the mixed emotions he already felt.
"When this storm blew through, I was sitting in the living room -- drinking coffee, watching the birds in the feeder. I told my wife, `We should be out working.' It's a funny thing, sitting home when I should be working. It just doesn't seem right," Perry said Monday.
Seven weeks into a strike by five locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, JCP&L executives and union representatives see no end in sight. Talks are scheduled to resume Tuesday.
The strike began Dec. 8.
At issue are retiree health care costs and JCP&L's plan to require employees to be on 24-hour call via electronic pager or cellular phone, which the union says would be the equivalent of "electronic dog collars."
JCP&L provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties, primarily in the northern part of the state. The unions represent linemen, technicians, clerks, mechanics and other employees of the Morristown-based company.
The storm Saturday and Sunday dumped a foot of snow on parts of New Jersey, knocking out power to about 20,000 JCP&L customers, most of them in central New Jersey, according to JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano.
Using management workers and linemen brought in from JCP&L's sister utilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the company was able to restore power to everyone who lost it within 24 hours, Morano said.
"We've now experienced two windstorms, an ice storm and the blizzard. We've not seen significant prolonged power outages during any of them. We've kept up with the emergency and restoration work," Morano said.
"Obviously, we're somewhat impaired not having the entire workforce available to us. But that speaks more to other work -- meter reading, new service connections," Morano said.
Perry wasn't the only idled JCP&L worker feeling strange. The mixed emotions of others had to do with more pressing concerns, like paying the bills.
"It's a hardship. It's definitely tough," said Rose Valentin, 40, of Ocean Township, who has taken a part-time job working weekends as a cashier at Costco to make up for the loss of pay from her job in customer accounting at JCP&L.
Valentin and her family have reduced their food budget by $50 a week and are dreading the continuation of the strike, which has already lasted longer than she expected. In a few more weeks, she fears, they may be getting shut-off notices -- perhaps even from JCP&L, her employer -- for nonpayment.
In the meantime, her family has cut out nonessential expenses.
"Yes, I have more time with the kids. But it's stressful. My emotions are up and down. One minute I'm depressed because I don't know how we'll pay our bills. The kids don't understand why they can't get their basketball pictures taken. It's only $20, but at the same time we need to be holding that money for our food budget or our bills," Valentin said.
Perry, an 18-year employee who has earned upward of $90,000 in recent years -- his base salary is about $62,000 -- because of mandatory overtime work, said he is living off savings but has had to cash in some investments to make up for the lost paychecks.
He has begun using the wood stove in his home more, hoping to conserve on heating costs.
"We're not looking for sympathy. We're just looking for a fair contract," said Perry.
Jack Moriarty, a spokesman for the striking workers, said the union has opened two food banks to help union members.
"They were immediately inundated," said Moriarty. "These are middle-class people who've had their livelihood snatched from them and their lifestyle destroyed."
© MMV Infinity Broadcasting Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In the interest of timeliness, this story is fed directly from the newswire and may contain occasional typographical errors.
1010 WINS - New York's All News Station | 1010wins.com
JCP&L Weathers Storm While Workers Strike
Jan 24, 2005 4:49 pm US/Eastern
BC-NJ--JCP&LStrike Bjt
01-24 0706 BC-NJ--JCP&L Strike, Bjt,680 AP Photo stfjcbn By JOHN CURRAN Associated Press Writer
The snow was falling, but Jersey Central Power & Light lineman Bill Perry was at home. He wasn't out in the cold, lifting tree limbs off power lines or running wire or working on a road project.
For Perry, 53, of Jackson, one of 1,350 union members on strike against the Morristown-based utility company, the weekend's winter weather didn't mean overtime or treacherous duty. It just underscored the mixed emotions he already felt.
"When this storm blew through, I was sitting in the living room -- drinking coffee, watching the birds in the feeder. I told my wife, `We should be out working.' It's a funny thing, sitting home when I should be working. It just doesn't seem right," Perry said Monday.
Seven weeks into a strike by five locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, JCP&L executives and union representatives see no end in sight. Talks are scheduled to resume Tuesday.
The strike began Dec. 8.
At issue are retiree health care costs and JCP&L's plan to require employees to be on 24-hour call via electronic pager or cellular phone, which the union says would be the equivalent of "electronic dog collars."
JCP&L provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties, primarily in the northern part of the state. The unions represent linemen, technicians, clerks, mechanics and other employees of the Morristown-based company.
The storm Saturday and Sunday dumped a foot of snow on parts of New Jersey, knocking out power to about 20,000 JCP&L customers, most of them in central New Jersey, according to JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano.
Using management workers and linemen brought in from JCP&L's sister utilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the company was able to restore power to everyone who lost it within 24 hours, Morano said.
"We've now experienced two windstorms, an ice storm and the blizzard. We've not seen significant prolonged power outages during any of them. We've kept up with the emergency and restoration work," Morano said.
"Obviously, we're somewhat impaired not having the entire workforce available to us. But that speaks more to other work -- meter reading, new service connections," Morano said.
Perry wasn't the only idled JCP&L worker feeling strange. The mixed emotions of others had to do with more pressing concerns, like paying the bills.
"It's a hardship. It's definitely tough," said Rose Valentin, 40, of Ocean Township, who has taken a part-time job working weekends as a cashier at Costco to make up for the loss of pay from her job in customer accounting at JCP&L.
Valentin and her family have reduced their food budget by $50 a week and are dreading the continuation of the strike, which has already lasted longer than she expected. In a few more weeks, she fears, they may be getting shut-off notices -- perhaps even from JCP&L, her employer -- for nonpayment.
In the meantime, her family has cut out nonessential expenses.
"Yes, I have more time with the kids. But it's stressful. My emotions are up and down. One minute I'm depressed because I don't know how we'll pay our bills. The kids don't understand why they can't get their basketball pictures taken. It's only $20, but at the same time we need to be holding that money for our food budget or our bills," Valentin said.
Perry, an 18-year employee who has earned upward of $90,000 in recent years -- his base salary is about $62,000 -- because of mandatory overtime work, said he is living off savings but has had to cash in some investments to make up for the lost paychecks.
He has begun using the wood stove in his home more, hoping to conserve on heating costs.
"We're not looking for sympathy. We're just looking for a fair contract," said Perry.
Jack Moriarty, a spokesman for the striking workers, said the union has opened two food banks to help union members.
"They were immediately inundated," said Moriarty. "These are middle-class people who've had their livelihood snatched from them and their lifestyle destroyed."
© MMV Infinity Broadcasting Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In the interest of timeliness, this story is fed directly from the newswire and may contain occasional typographical errors.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Letters To Asbury Press Support New Jersey IBEW Utility Workers
http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,1185953,00.html
Tuesday Letters to the Press
Published in the Asbury Park Press 1/25/05
Strikers need state's help
It's a shame that acting Gov. Codey's office has not responded to the numerous letters written by the striking workers of the local IBEW Union. They are on strike against FirstEnergy of Ohio, which owns Jersey Central Power and Light. These strikers have no contract to vote on because FirstEnergy is not bargaining in good faith. They cannot get unemployment even though they are locked out.
These people should be allowed to collect until this strike is over. Mediation meetings have been a waste of time because First-}Energy will not put a new contract on the table that would give the workers a fair benefits package. I urge state legislators to get involved and help these hard-working blue-collar workers before FirstEnergy starves them out. These people are the backbone of New Jersey. With election time coming, legislators should act now or lose the votes of many hard-working families.
Doug Darcy
LACEY
Tuesday Letters to the Press
Published in the Asbury Park Press 1/25/05
Strikers need state's help
It's a shame that acting Gov. Codey's office has not responded to the numerous letters written by the striking workers of the local IBEW Union. They are on strike against FirstEnergy of Ohio, which owns Jersey Central Power and Light. These strikers have no contract to vote on because FirstEnergy is not bargaining in good faith. They cannot get unemployment even though they are locked out.
These people should be allowed to collect until this strike is over. Mediation meetings have been a waste of time because First-}Energy will not put a new contract on the table that would give the workers a fair benefits package. I urge state legislators to get involved and help these hard-working blue-collar workers before FirstEnergy starves them out. These people are the backbone of New Jersey. With election time coming, legislators should act now or lose the votes of many hard-working families.
Doug Darcy
LACEY
Sunday, January 23, 2005
IBEW Local 22 (Omaha) Spokesman Speaks Up on Behalf of All Nebraska Workers in Unemployment Compensation Debate
Senators seek way to fix unemployment fund
By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star
Todd Teut knows what it's like to get a weekly unemployment insurance check. "It's a real help," he said. And he knows what it's like to live without that help. | More Legislature stories |
"That gets rough."
For six months, Teut was among the 44,000 Nebraskans who got weekly checks last year. His was for about half his wages at Goodyear, where he worked for 12 years.
His wife, Heather, still had a job and her check made the payment on their new house, but the unemployment check paid other expenses and kept the couple afloat.
Early last year, Todd Teut took a voluntary six-month lay-off. When it was time for him to go back to work, there was no job for him at Goodyear.
His unemployment benefits ran out at the same time, so finances got dicey. On Saturday, he was testing for a truck driver's license and plans to drive over the road until he can find other work.
Had he known the outcome, Teut said, he would have never taken the layoff, his first ever. And now he knows first-hand the importance of unemployment insurance to help keep families afloat.
He believes senators need to solve the problems of a dangerously low unemployment trust fund this year. The fund is at about $85 million, and dropping.
"We are losing jobs to overseas workers, and we do need it."
Eight states have depleted their trust funds, and Nebraska ranks fourth from the bottom based on the trust fund balance as a percent of total wages, according to the Nebraska Department of Labor statistics. With no changes, it could run out of money by 2007, said Sen. Doug Cunningham, chairman of the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee.
The fund should have about a $225 million reserve to withstand a crisis or deep recession, based on work by Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, Cunningham said.
"We are considerably below that," he said. "It's to nobody's benefit if that fund goes broke."
Cunningham has been working with a group of people representing labor and business interests and said the Legislature will tackle the issue this session.
For the past seven years the state has been paying out more in benefits than comes in each year from employers.
When the fund was flush and the economy was rolling, senators agreed to increase benefits, tying the maximum weekly benefit automatically to the state's average annual wage. The department, under pressure from the business community and Legislature to reduce the fund balance from more than $200 million, lowered employer contribution rates, explained John Albin, attorney for the department.
Then came a recession period and the problems created by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the fund continued to drop as the state consistently paid out more in benefits than it raised from the employer tax.
For several years the business community has resisted big jumps in the contribution rate required to get the fund back to a healthy reserve level.
Every year the Chamber of Commerce and business community backed away from increases in the insurance tax, promising to work on the issue the next year, said Ken Mass, Nebraska AFL-CIO president.
"Now it's gotten to the point where something has to be done," he said.
Cunningham hasn't found a solution agreeable to all parties yet, but LB739, introduced last week, likely will serve as a shell for the issue later in the session.
Both labor and business agree there's a problem.
"(The trust fund) is almost broke and needs to be fixed and both sides are going to have to work on it," said Ron Sedlacek, who represents the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.
"We all understand that unemployment has got some serious financial problems and they do have to be fixed," said John Bourne, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 22. Labor representatives have pledged to work on the problem, he said.
The compromise will involve both sides giving a bit — a freeze on the workers' maximum benefit, plus increases in employee contributions. But employers will have to play a bigger role in getting the fund back to solvency, said Cunningham.
Two key components of the compromise are freezing worker benefits for at least two years and raising the taxable wages (companies pay the unemployment insurance on this amount of the worker's wage each year) from $7,000 to $9,000.
Freezing benefits will save about $2.5 million a year. But raising the taxable wage level from the first $7,000 to the first $9,000 means businesses will pay out another $25 million a year, Cunningham said.
"There is still heartburn with many people on that part of the bill and we will have to work through that." Cunningham said.
Labor representatives appear willing to accept a two-year freeze on benefits.
"We're not in love with freezing the weekly benefits, but we understand the need," said Mass.
But employers believe it is unfair for workers who voluntarily quit their jobs or are fired for good cause to get weekly checks.
"Nebraska is one of less than half a dozen states that pay benefits if you voluntarily quit your job, or are fired for misconduct — for stealing from your employer, for assaulting another employee," said Sedlacek.
But labor representatives say they are adamantly opposed to changing the state system for workers who quit or are fired.
"We're against that. No doubt," Mass said.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.
How the system works
The unemployment insurance fund provides weekly benefits to workers who have lost or quit their jobs. Workers receive half of their weekly wage up to a maximum of $288 (half the average weekly wage in the state) for a maximum of 26 weeks. The maximum benefit goes up each year, tied to the average Nebraska wage.
Nebraska workers who quit or are fired for cause must sit out seven to 10 weeks before they can collect unemployment.
Employers contribute based on their track record in using the fund, with rates set each year by the labor commissioner based on advice from his staff for keeping the fund solvent and on a public hearing where business interests traditionally argue to keep the rate low.
Employers pay the tax on the first $7,000 in salaries for each employee, the federal minimum used by 11 of the 53 jurisdictions with unemployment insurance programs.
Here are the pieces of a compromise as defined early in the Nebraska legislative session.
* Freeze benefits at the $288 weekly maximum. The maximum wage has tended to increase between $8 and $10 each year. Other options include continuing the freeze until the trust fund reaches the $225 million reserve level, and capping the benefit increases for several years after the freeze period so there isn't a big jump in benefits in one year as the system catches up to the new average wage.
* Raise the taxable wage to $9,000. Other options include continuing to increase the taxable wage annually until the trust fund reaches the proper reserve level.
* Lengthen the wait period for people who quit or are fired for cause from 10 weeks maximum to 13. This would save about $4.7 million a year.
* Increase the rate paid by the "negative balance" employers, companies that use more from the pool than they pay in (construction, for example, where workers are often laid off for part of a year),
* Revise the system so it is more sensitive to usage patterns of employers, creating an array of 20 groups with different taxing levels to make payment levels better correspond to usage levels.
* Increase the maximum a worker would have to earn in order to file a claim from $1,600 to $2,500 in a base period (basically half a year)
* Create a solvency surcharge that would take effect when the fund dropped below the reserve level.
* Change the rate setting system, so the Labor Commissioner no longer sets rates after a public hearing. Instead, rates paid by employers would be based on a formula in state law.
By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star
Todd Teut knows what it's like to get a weekly unemployment insurance check. "It's a real help," he said. And he knows what it's like to live without that help. | More Legislature stories |
"That gets rough."
For six months, Teut was among the 44,000 Nebraskans who got weekly checks last year. His was for about half his wages at Goodyear, where he worked for 12 years.
His wife, Heather, still had a job and her check made the payment on their new house, but the unemployment check paid other expenses and kept the couple afloat.
Early last year, Todd Teut took a voluntary six-month lay-off. When it was time for him to go back to work, there was no job for him at Goodyear.
His unemployment benefits ran out at the same time, so finances got dicey. On Saturday, he was testing for a truck driver's license and plans to drive over the road until he can find other work.
Had he known the outcome, Teut said, he would have never taken the layoff, his first ever. And now he knows first-hand the importance of unemployment insurance to help keep families afloat.
He believes senators need to solve the problems of a dangerously low unemployment trust fund this year. The fund is at about $85 million, and dropping.
"We are losing jobs to overseas workers, and we do need it."
Eight states have depleted their trust funds, and Nebraska ranks fourth from the bottom based on the trust fund balance as a percent of total wages, according to the Nebraska Department of Labor statistics. With no changes, it could run out of money by 2007, said Sen. Doug Cunningham, chairman of the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee.
The fund should have about a $225 million reserve to withstand a crisis or deep recession, based on work by Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, Cunningham said.
"We are considerably below that," he said. "It's to nobody's benefit if that fund goes broke."
Cunningham has been working with a group of people representing labor and business interests and said the Legislature will tackle the issue this session.
For the past seven years the state has been paying out more in benefits than comes in each year from employers.
When the fund was flush and the economy was rolling, senators agreed to increase benefits, tying the maximum weekly benefit automatically to the state's average annual wage. The department, under pressure from the business community and Legislature to reduce the fund balance from more than $200 million, lowered employer contribution rates, explained John Albin, attorney for the department.
Then came a recession period and the problems created by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the fund continued to drop as the state consistently paid out more in benefits than it raised from the employer tax.
For several years the business community has resisted big jumps in the contribution rate required to get the fund back to a healthy reserve level.
Every year the Chamber of Commerce and business community backed away from increases in the insurance tax, promising to work on the issue the next year, said Ken Mass, Nebraska AFL-CIO president.
"Now it's gotten to the point where something has to be done," he said.
Cunningham hasn't found a solution agreeable to all parties yet, but LB739, introduced last week, likely will serve as a shell for the issue later in the session.
Both labor and business agree there's a problem.
"(The trust fund) is almost broke and needs to be fixed and both sides are going to have to work on it," said Ron Sedlacek, who represents the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.
"We all understand that unemployment has got some serious financial problems and they do have to be fixed," said John Bourne, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 22. Labor representatives have pledged to work on the problem, he said.
The compromise will involve both sides giving a bit — a freeze on the workers' maximum benefit, plus increases in employee contributions. But employers will have to play a bigger role in getting the fund back to solvency, said Cunningham.
Two key components of the compromise are freezing worker benefits for at least two years and raising the taxable wages (companies pay the unemployment insurance on this amount of the worker's wage each year) from $7,000 to $9,000.
Freezing benefits will save about $2.5 million a year. But raising the taxable wage level from the first $7,000 to the first $9,000 means businesses will pay out another $25 million a year, Cunningham said.
"There is still heartburn with many people on that part of the bill and we will have to work through that." Cunningham said.
Labor representatives appear willing to accept a two-year freeze on benefits.
"We're not in love with freezing the weekly benefits, but we understand the need," said Mass.
But employers believe it is unfair for workers who voluntarily quit their jobs or are fired for good cause to get weekly checks.
"Nebraska is one of less than half a dozen states that pay benefits if you voluntarily quit your job, or are fired for misconduct — for stealing from your employer, for assaulting another employee," said Sedlacek.
But labor representatives say they are adamantly opposed to changing the state system for workers who quit or are fired.
"We're against that. No doubt," Mass said.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.
How the system works
The unemployment insurance fund provides weekly benefits to workers who have lost or quit their jobs. Workers receive half of their weekly wage up to a maximum of $288 (half the average weekly wage in the state) for a maximum of 26 weeks. The maximum benefit goes up each year, tied to the average Nebraska wage.
Nebraska workers who quit or are fired for cause must sit out seven to 10 weeks before they can collect unemployment.
Employers contribute based on their track record in using the fund, with rates set each year by the labor commissioner based on advice from his staff for keeping the fund solvent and on a public hearing where business interests traditionally argue to keep the rate low.
Employers pay the tax on the first $7,000 in salaries for each employee, the federal minimum used by 11 of the 53 jurisdictions with unemployment insurance programs.
Here are the pieces of a compromise as defined early in the Nebraska legislative session.
* Freeze benefits at the $288 weekly maximum. The maximum wage has tended to increase between $8 and $10 each year. Other options include continuing the freeze until the trust fund reaches the $225 million reserve level, and capping the benefit increases for several years after the freeze period so there isn't a big jump in benefits in one year as the system catches up to the new average wage.
* Raise the taxable wage to $9,000. Other options include continuing to increase the taxable wage annually until the trust fund reaches the proper reserve level.
* Lengthen the wait period for people who quit or are fired for cause from 10 weeks maximum to 13. This would save about $4.7 million a year.
* Increase the rate paid by the "negative balance" employers, companies that use more from the pool than they pay in (construction, for example, where workers are often laid off for part of a year),
* Revise the system so it is more sensitive to usage patterns of employers, creating an array of 20 groups with different taxing levels to make payment levels better correspond to usage levels.
* Increase the maximum a worker would have to earn in order to file a claim from $1,600 to $2,500 in a base period (basically half a year)
* Create a solvency surcharge that would take effect when the fund dropped below the reserve level.
* Change the rate setting system, so the Labor Commissioner no longer sets rates after a public hearing. Instead, rates paid by employers would be based on a formula in state law.
South San Joaquin Irrigation District Cites IBEW workers as proof of reliability
PG&E frets SSJID may mean higher retail power costs
Thirty years ago, angry PG&E customers throughout the Central Valley were conducting "town hall" meetings.
They were spurred on by groups such as TURN -- Toward Utility Rate Normalization -- who were battling PG&E over ever increasing costs.
Those town hall meetings are coming back on a small scale in the South County this week. But instead of angry residents calling the meeting, it is PG&E.
PG&E is trying to stir up community sentiment against the South San Joaquin Irrigation District proposal that it enter the retail power business in Manteca, Escalon, and Ripon by a hostile takeover of the existing PG&E system.
PG&E contends if SSJID ends up going into the retail business it may cost Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon residents more and that service will be unreliable. Worse yet, PG&E claims, farmers may have to pay the cost of an "ill-advised" SSJID foray into retail power sales though higher irrigation rates.
While SSJID hasn't completed studies necessary to make its final decisions, leaders of the irrigation district contend that PG&E's claims are all "poppycock." The SSJID leadership asserts it is amazing that a utility known for having some of the highest rates in the nation, thanks in part to it selling generating assets to its holding company and then charging itself for higher wholesale electric costs they then passed on to their customers, is making such claims.
SSJID management points to the fact the brochure mailed to district PG&E customers raising a warning about the SSJID proposal is based on one irrigation district's disastrous attempt to enter the power business -- Laugna in South Sacramento County. Unlike SSJID, Laugna did not have its own power generation or major dam system for irrigation water -- two things along with the fact they are in the business to make a profit that make it financially feasible for SSJID to lower rates by as much as 15 percent over what PG&E charges.
SSJID notes there are a slew of successful irrigation districts undercutting PG&E including Modesto Irrigation District. They also note other government agencies providing power -- including the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the City of Lodi -- do so for substantially less than what PG&E charges.
A typical residential customer with SMUD using 700 kilowatt hours per month pays $45 less than a PG&E customers with the same electrical consumption in Manteca or $540 less per year. Savings skyrocket for larger uses much as small businesses using 2,000 kilowatt hours a month who pay $2,988 less a year for electricity from SSJID than of they were a PG&E customer.
A large supermarket with 250,000 kilowatt hours per month energy consumption pays $166,068 less a month for SMUD power than the same size supermarket pays PG&E in Manteca.
SSJID also points out that up until Dec. 31, PG&E was buying power from SSJID via the Tri-Dam Project for about a half cent a kilowatt and then turning around and charging their PG&E customers in Manteca almost 10 times more for the same electricity.
As for reliability, SSJID said they would use International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- the same work force used by PG&E. The SSJID already has a relationship with IBEW through Tri-Dam.
The SSJID also noted that MID volunteered to participate in rolling brownouts created by PG&E's push for deregulation a few years back.
Former Gov. Gray Davis' administration thought it would create problems if non-profit retail power distributors such as MID didn't voluntarily participate in brownouts when PG&E was forced to by limitations on its own supply network that it would create a political liability.
The PG&E town hall meets all start at 7 p.m. and will last about an hour. They are:
# Tuesday at the Escalon Libray.
# Wednesday at the Legion Hall next to the PG&E office in downtown Manteca.
# Thursday at Cups Coffee on Main Street.
By DENNIS WYATT
Managing editor of the
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Thirty years ago, angry PG&E customers throughout the Central Valley were conducting "town hall" meetings.
They were spurred on by groups such as TURN -- Toward Utility Rate Normalization -- who were battling PG&E over ever increasing costs.
Those town hall meetings are coming back on a small scale in the South County this week. But instead of angry residents calling the meeting, it is PG&E.
PG&E is trying to stir up community sentiment against the South San Joaquin Irrigation District proposal that it enter the retail power business in Manteca, Escalon, and Ripon by a hostile takeover of the existing PG&E system.
PG&E contends if SSJID ends up going into the retail business it may cost Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon residents more and that service will be unreliable. Worse yet, PG&E claims, farmers may have to pay the cost of an "ill-advised" SSJID foray into retail power sales though higher irrigation rates.
While SSJID hasn't completed studies necessary to make its final decisions, leaders of the irrigation district contend that PG&E's claims are all "poppycock." The SSJID leadership asserts it is amazing that a utility known for having some of the highest rates in the nation, thanks in part to it selling generating assets to its holding company and then charging itself for higher wholesale electric costs they then passed on to their customers, is making such claims.
SSJID management points to the fact the brochure mailed to district PG&E customers raising a warning about the SSJID proposal is based on one irrigation district's disastrous attempt to enter the power business -- Laugna in South Sacramento County. Unlike SSJID, Laugna did not have its own power generation or major dam system for irrigation water -- two things along with the fact they are in the business to make a profit that make it financially feasible for SSJID to lower rates by as much as 15 percent over what PG&E charges.
SSJID notes there are a slew of successful irrigation districts undercutting PG&E including Modesto Irrigation District. They also note other government agencies providing power -- including the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the City of Lodi -- do so for substantially less than what PG&E charges.
A typical residential customer with SMUD using 700 kilowatt hours per month pays $45 less than a PG&E customers with the same electrical consumption in Manteca or $540 less per year. Savings skyrocket for larger uses much as small businesses using 2,000 kilowatt hours a month who pay $2,988 less a year for electricity from SSJID than of they were a PG&E customer.
A large supermarket with 250,000 kilowatt hours per month energy consumption pays $166,068 less a month for SMUD power than the same size supermarket pays PG&E in Manteca.
SSJID also points out that up until Dec. 31, PG&E was buying power from SSJID via the Tri-Dam Project for about a half cent a kilowatt and then turning around and charging their PG&E customers in Manteca almost 10 times more for the same electricity.
As for reliability, SSJID said they would use International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- the same work force used by PG&E. The SSJID already has a relationship with IBEW through Tri-Dam.
The SSJID also noted that MID volunteered to participate in rolling brownouts created by PG&E's push for deregulation a few years back.
Former Gov. Gray Davis' administration thought it would create problems if non-profit retail power distributors such as MID didn't voluntarily participate in brownouts when PG&E was forced to by limitations on its own supply network that it would create a political liability.
The PG&E town hall meets all start at 7 p.m. and will last about an hour. They are:
# Tuesday at the Escalon Libray.
# Wednesday at the Legion Hall next to the PG&E office in downtown Manteca.
# Thursday at Cups Coffee on Main Street.
By DENNIS WYATT
Managing editor of the
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)