Finally after three months of relative quiet regarding the issue, the City of Janesville finally acknowledged that the current residents of Janesville will be paying for the special water utility needs of the Hendricks sub-division. Water rates will go up again in 2008 by 5.5% for all residents to pay for a pumping station and water tower to serve the elevated terrain of the new development.
And wouldn’t you know it, they publicize it in the Gazette just two days before they will hold a rubberstamping session to finalize the water rate increase. Only city management can explain why they gave away our money to pay for this and not issue a special assessment to the responsible parties of the properties. Expensive? You bet! The water tower will cost at least $2.7 million and will amount to another tax increase we could add into our daily budgets.
But things will only get worse in the future since the water tower and pumping station will increase net plant assets and further strain the utilities desire to earn a 6% rate of return. What does it mean? Brace yourself for more increases in 2009 and 10, even if water rates themselves remain flat, all thanks to the special needs of a single developer. This is only the beginning in local tax increases.
What about schools for the sub-division? Is this tied into the expansion at Craig and Parker? And if it’s not, who will be paying for the “new” schools? If they gave away a pumping station and tower, one can only imagine what the deal is with the developers for schools. Hang on!
Throw in the Janesville School Referendum, reassessments and inflation and it’s easy to see the once affordable City of Janesville is being mismanaged into the future. But look at the bright side, this Monday, Oct, 23rd at City Hall, residents can uselessly flap their jaws in opposition to this expenditure and deaf ears will be listening. They will thank you for your comments and blindly proceed to authorize the increase. We are screwed!
7 comments:
It's a utility bill increase not a tax hike.
When society at large is billed for the needs of the few, for some reason the word tax pops into my head.
Not that there's anything wrong with that if we were talking about helping those who cannot afford it on their own.
I see we have another proposal on the table. Helgeson(sic?) has shown his interest in out right buying the property. If they take his proposal at least the county wont have a bunch of useless land to deal with and will be at least $10 million richer. And at least he was honest about what he is going to do with it.
I agree, but can you imagine what the offers might be if the county made an effort to market the land?
It's always the same story. Big business in this country, including local developers make their millions with government support, not the entrepreneurialism they so often profess to worship. I noticed the Gazette shilling for them as usual too.
I couldn't agree more!
The longer the county sits on that land the more valuable it will be in the future. Imagine the value in a few more years after more expansion. It will be worth 10 times what it is now. Anybody that sticks a timetable on a land deal like that is either hiding something or is hoping they can't get enough info in time to make an informed decision. If they did market the land they would get a pile more than the 2 offers they have on the table now. If the Board has any rational people left they should just wait. If they really think about it the land swap deal is insulting to say the least. But when people get dollar signs in their eyes and loose rational thought and jump.
Post a Comment