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Letter to the Editor: Taking city, newspaper to task
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To Wayne Waldack and his puppeteer let’s get some facts straight. LCEC is a co-op. It is a user owned and controlled company. We are the owners of the company and it’s assets. We elect its board of directors. Any profits made by the company are distributed to the rightful owners, us.
If the City of Marco assumed control of the operation the citizens would have no say in it’s decisions. As with any other city controlled enterprise the “powers that be” will dictate the terms. Just like they did with the sanitary sewer fiasco. The citizens (users) were not allowed to be heard via referendum.
The electric utility will be used as another source of revenue for city coffers. And to make sure no one will be able to question their authority the “powers that be” will resort to a legal ruling by their city attorney.
Give me a break. The fix is in. The City Council has their own little fiefdom. Let them choke in their arrogance and riches. If we had investigative reporters instead of sycophants on our local newspapers our city officials would be shaking in their boots.
H. Sarlo, Marco Island
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When the city took over Florida water we were promised no rate increases for 3 years. That proved to be a lie. The only entities that benefited from that takeover were the resorts. The condos now enjoy a much more favorable rate structure than the single family homes. If the city takes over the LCEC you can bet history will repeat itself.
There isn't any governmental agency that regulates the rates the city elects to charge for utilities. The condos/resorts have proven they have the voting power to elect councilmen that will give them exclusive use of the reuse water and give them preferred rates. If we add LCEC to the pot, we will be subsidizing their electricity as well.
#1 Posted by marcoobserver on July 22, 2008 at 10:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I beg to differ with your statement about the Marco Island electorate. In this case, 70% of the voters elected our current City Counci majority. An analysis of the voter turnout specifically refutes your conclusions. In fact, among areas of homes not on sewers yet, the losers got a 2% edge in voter preference. All other homes and condos were overwhelming in favor of sewers and the Councilmen that were elected. As far as LCEC is concerned, your prophecy is already true. Marco Island subsidizes the LCEC Service area by leaps and bounds. The facts are available and will be available to you shortly. The only issue is how significant is our contribution/subsidy to LCEC and it's rural areas and how much can we save by other alternatives. It might be nice if LCEC adjusted our rates to better reflect our high density population, lower distribution costs per KWH, our lower maintetnace per customer cost, etc.
Ed Issler
#2 Posted by lauralbi1 on July 24, 2008 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Issler. something tells me even if LCEC decided to give Marco Island its power for FREE, this city gov. would still come up with a reason to fire them... we aint be buying your crap no more!
#3 Posted by gernblanstone on July 24, 2008 at 10:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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