Just the facts

By Phil Penzel

I received a mailer from the John Graham campaign that was inundated with deception. This letter is to inform the public of the actual facts:

1. While I've been on the Jackson Board of Aldermen, the only lost suit was a condemnation suit that was ultimately settled. When a city is growing, there is more need for easements to support the infrastructure, such as roads, water, sewer and power transmission lines. People can get greedy and want more money than the easement is worth, resulting in increased potential for condemnation lawsuits. The city's ability to fund projects is contingent on our ability to acquire easements at a reasonable price. A majority of lawsuits filed pertains to the city trying to save the taxpayers' money.

2. Graham fails to recognize that the $100,000 attorney's fee is not only for lawsuits, but also for maintaining the municipal court system, standing in as the city prosecutor, writing ordinances, attending council and staff meetings and providing legal consultation to the police.

3. The only study conducted recently was the CBB traffic study and it was right at $100,000. The Shawnee and U.S. 61 intersection and East Main Street were some of many recommendations with high priority. We cannot do everything at once. We can only do projects as funds become available. We have done facility planning through our $10 million bond issue as required by the Department of Natural Resources. To date we have followed everything to a T.

4. Cape Girardeau and Jackson have a longtime understanding that the dividing line for annexation is the west I-55 right-of-way line. We have property on our side, plus we will run our utilities to this area to benefit Jackson. We will receive $10.8 million of federal funds because of our partnership with Cape, Cape Girardeau County and Southeast Missouri State University. Without that partnership, the federal funds would have passed us by and Jackson would probably have had to take this project on itself, including the roads and utilities on the Cape side. The whole project would be difficult to afford all at once, and it would compound the electric-rate crisis. If we initiated the Sawyer Act and forcibly annexed all of the property on the Cape side, it would have alienated Cape and eliminated its participation. It would cost money and time. And the initiative would have to be placed on a ballot and voted on by the public. This project wouldn't be started.

5. The June 18, 2005, MoPep action-item vote was presented to the public before that meeting and published the next day after the vote. The hearing 15 months later was only to get citizen input on possible ways to ease the pain. Jackson was coming off of a well-negotiated contract that was coming to an end, and Ameren was not willing to go long term with the contract renewal without substantial rate increases. By going with MoPep, we were ensuring our control of future pricing when their new coal-fired plants, which are more economical, come on line in about four years. At that point, everyone should feel the benefit of this decision. We were expecting at least a 67 percent increase, which is about what we got with MoPep. This should stabilize or lower rates in a few years after the new plants are on line. After input from the citizens, we proposed to increase the rates in baby steps of 12 percent at three different times for a total of about 40.5 percent, with budget cuts taking up most of the difference. This power crisis is a nationwide problem, and Jackson is late in the game for catching up, due to our long-term previous contract. We are, therefore, experiencing a more dramatic change than most communities. The city of Jackson is a bona fide voting member of this organization, and we have a strong voice in how this organization conducts business, including the rate structure.

6. We can start the generators and generate electricity at any time. Section 7.2 of the contract allows this. As a courtesy, MoPep should be notified, but it is not required. We actually have much more freedom with MoPep than under the old Ameren contract. The city budgeted $1.7 million for 4 megawatts of power generation to replace the old generators. At the end of the day, we got 6 megawatts for a total of $1.3 million complete and installed. MoPep also credits the city of Jackson $35,000 per month for the standby capacity whether we supply it or not. If we do supply power to MoPep, we get $150 per megawatt hour additional compensation.

7. Your electric bill is not a tax. Your electric bill pays for the water, sewer, police, fire, and all other city departments in addition to power. This is what a municipal utility is all about. It means that instead of profits going to shareholders in New York or California, the profits go to pay for police, fire and other needed services. That, in turn, keeps taxes lower. We could raise the base rate and then give back the 10 percent discount to businesses, or lower it as it is now and then charge an additional amount if you don't pay it on time. Businesses usually don't need this because they generally are very good about paying on time. Sometimes individuals are more likely to have a problem, and this gives them an idea of what the late charge will be if they don't pay on time.

8. The city cannot take property without compensation. The courts would not allow it. I can only assume Graham is talking about city property that he was allowed to park on for years until it was sold. We sold property that was not useful to the city and then turned around and purchased property that was very useful for expanding the power plant area, and all by saving the taxpayers $20,000 to $30,000. It was done legally and with proper notices.

It upsets me is that we as aldermen work hard to do what is right with little compensation and few compliments. Yet an uninformed person with a vendetta feels the need to attack with false information. I believe people should be told the facts as they are.

Phil Penzel of Jackson is a Ward 1 alderman.