Electric shutoffs discussed

The Governing Body discussed electrical shutoff policies at tonights council meeting and whether or not a change is needed. City Manager Gus Collins presented the Council with an existing City Code that does allow for the suspension of shutoffs for extenuating circumstances such as "weather" (See below). Further discussion will be needed to establish the criteria for such suspensions, therefore the issue will be placed on a future work session agenda.
For those residents who are unable to pay their bill by the cutoff date, they are encouraged to contact the City Clerks Office at 326-2821 to make arrangements for a level pay plan or a payment plan on the arrears. The Wellington Ministerial Alliance also can provide assistance for those with extenuating circumstances. Persons interested in more information can contact Pastor Bob Nickel at the Grace Fellowship Baptist Church.

City Code, Sec. 38-446. Same--Special circumstances.
(a) If a residential customer notifies the utility and establishes that discontinuance would be especially dangerous to the health of the customer, resident member of the customer's family or other permanent resident of the premises where service is rendered, and that such customer is unable to pay for such service in accordance with the requirements of the utility's billing, or is able to pay for such service only in installments, the utility shall either allow payment in reasonable installments or postpone discontinuance of service for at least 21 days so that the customer can make arrangements for reasonable installment payments.

(b) In determining whether discontinuance would be especially dangerous to health, consideration shall be given to the weather, and the customer's or other resident's medical condition, age or disability.

(Code 1996, § 15-527; Ord. No. 3288, § 14)

2011 Budget passes 7-1

The 2011 Budgets passed 7-1 at tonights Council Meeting. The budget is approximately $22,000 less than last year which will result in a mill levy decrease of about 1/2 mill.
While there are many worthy projects in next years budget, I could not support it because for the second year in a row, our employees are faced with no Cost of Living Adjustment. And while I would never support a tax increase to fund COLAs during bad economic times such as those we face now, I felt there were some non-essential budgeted items that should have been postponed, directing the money towards employee raises.
Once the final budget is printed, there will be a copy made available in the Public Library, at City Hall, and on-line on the City's website.

"As I See It' - The Laffer Curve

The Laffer Curve, according to Wikipedia, "is a theoretical representation of the relationship between government revenue raised by taxation and all possible rates of taxation. It is used to illustrate the concept of Taxable Income Elasticity (that taxable income will change in response to changes in the rate of taxation). The curve is constructed by thought experiment. First, the amount of tax revenue raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100% is considered. It is clear that a 0% tax rate raises no revenue, but the Laffer curve hypothesis is that a 100% tax rate will also generate no revenue because at such a rate there is no longer any incentive for a rational taxpayer to earn any income, thus the revenue raised will be 100% of nothing."
Now putting economics aside, I wonder if the same theory can be applied to the population of a community. At one end of the curve there is 0 percent taxation. With no revenue, a City cannot provide services needed and desired by the citizens, so the population drops. At the other end of the curve, there is 100 percent taxation, therefore citizens cannot afford to live in the community and again, the population drops. But somewhere on the curve is a "happy medium" in which taxation is enough to provide the services "needed" by the citizens, but at a point in which taxation is not so great that it contributes to a decline in population.
If this "Laffer Curve" can be applied to a theory regarding population, where does our community fall on the curve?

Public Hearing on 2011 Budget

At next Tuesdays Council Meeting is a Public Hearing on the 2011 Proposed Budget. This is the time for citizens to come and voice their opinion about the proposals. The preliminary budget can be viewed on the City's website at http://www.cityofwellington.net/images/content/files/clerk/2011_pre_budget.pdf.

Water rates

An Ordinance to increase water rates was voted down at last nights Council Meeting by a vote of 6-2. City Manager Collins explained that while the Utility Fund as a whole was making a profit, it was only because of revenue from electric sales, and that the City was operating "in the red" on water. Collins stated it was the recommendation of the City Auditor to increase water rates so that all three utilities; electric, water, and sewer were making a profit. Councilmembers Brand and Shimer were the two "yea" votes on the Ordinance while Valentine, Antonich, Weber, Tracy, Nunemaker, and Mortimer were opposed.