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Tuesday, August 12, 2008 11:09 AM Rein in ElectriCities' spending The few thousand dollars the city of Wilson spent to send three people to the ElectriCities convention in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is minuscule compared to the $100 million or so the city takes in as utilities revenue. And sending the mayor, utilities director and deputy city manager to the conference shows far more public consciousness than other cities, such as Elizabeth City, which sent nine council members, have shown. Meetings such as the ElectriCities convention, the League of Municipalities meeting, the National League of Cities meeting, the National School Boards Association convention, the National Association of County Officials meeting, the N.C. Association of County Commissioners meeting and similar events are generally beneficial. Public bodies should show discretion, however, in the number of people they send at taxpayer expense. Sending one or two members who can report back to colleagues can be a good investment. Rotating the choice of delegates sent to various meetings can help avoid grumbling on boards. Often the information collected at these meetings can be of far greater value than the registration and travel costs. The ElectriCities convention held last weekend would probably not cause a raised eyebrow, except that the management association for North Carolina cities that sell electricity has just raised rates charged member cities by 14 percent. Moreover, ElectriCities' financial records indicate the group is not being conscientious about spending or good stewards of member cities' money. ElectriCities has paid board members a monthly stipend, although these members are nearly all public officials who receive compensation from their city governments. It has paid for expensive lobbyists, paid extravagant salaries to employees, racked up high legal costs, given generous raises and spent lavishly on advertising. At the same time, ElectriCities has misjudged financial markets, resulting in higher rate increases, and has focused too little on reducing the debt of its member power agencies. The N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency, which includes Wilson, still owes about $2.6 billion on bonds it issued in the early 1980s. And it has been suggested that the power agencies might want to buy into new electric generating plants, thereby burdening member cities and their electricity customers with even more debt while perpetuating a need for ElectriCities. The two power agencies and the cities should put ElectriCities on a fiscal diet. They can do little about the price of coal or uranium, but the cities can control the lavish spending at ElectriCities and should tighten the clamps now. |
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