http://www.wilsontimes.com/News/Breaking/Story/Second-ElectriCities-administrator-gone--
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/opinion/high-voltage-and-electricites-bill-297087.html
I have to say, on behalf of the team of community activists, that we were caught off guard by some pleasant news confirmed today by the Wilson Times. Two more people are out and there is definitely some saving. Clay Norris had been reported to be the recipient of very large increases over five years and Janice Carney reportedly hired by Norris for a salary much higher than ever previously earned. Good News. But ElectriCities needs to understand there needs to be more to come. The garbage out of this place has been flowing since 2002 and has not stopped yet. It picked up steam with the rate increases. Even during the 1980s and 1990s, there was not anything positive about this place.
We need to see more. When an organization acts so irresponsibly as to ring up some millions in costs on bad refinance deals on a bad debt deal that will be saddling our cities for 50 years, you have to make more than perfunctory cuts.
There is a lot of information pouring out of this place on reckless spending by lobbyists (and the hiring of Drew Saunders), a lot of turnover of staff, reckless sponsorships of NC SPIN and magazines by Communications people who are never seen or heard from, and very irresponsible and lackluster performance by economic development staff.
Let's see some more trimming and maybe taxpayers will have a reason for some happy holidays.
Comments
More on ElectriCities BUDGET at the Political Agitator
http://www.triadblogs.com/curmilus/9192/Wilson+NC+-+ElectriCities+Budget+Cuts%3F.html?#c822
Our Friend at www.thepoliticalagitator.com posted the response to Daryl Barber's original talking points about what to cut in the budget. Councilman Andre Knight presented the list and here are the answers.
We will go through it but for now looks like some evasion.
Al Manning, retiree, native of eastern NC and proud of it, plenty of time to read, research and get annoyed about the lack of accountability in elected leaders these days. Married to a real southern lady and we live with two labs and two airedales who run
Reviewing the ElectriCities budget
Al --
Sorry for being away so long. I'm back.
First, I'll need to review the proposed cuts to the budget again, but I'm fairly certain that most of them are focused on ElectriCities (as opposed to ElectriCities plus NCEMPA operations). There is a significant difference between the two budgets, and it looks like the majority of the cuts are happening on the smaller ElectriCities budget.
Second, you should approach any of the cuts from the standpoint of "Should ElectriCities be doing this or providing this service?" For example, ElectriCities does do quite a bit of Economic Development, and Economic Development is a good thing. The better question in this case is, "Should ElectriCities be leading the economic development efforts? Should taxpayers be paying for ElectriCities' economic development efforts through their utility bills?
Third, any and all discussions about ElectriCities' finances should include commentary on the impact on rates and the impact on the debt. Until ElectriCities (or someone else) addresses the significant amount of debt burden (and the temptation to issue even more debt to fund even more construction), a sizable chunk of the finances will be spent paying down debt.
Dan
Thanks, Alman
for keeping us informed about what's going on at ElectriCities. It looks to me like they've been enjoying their monopoly position for so many years that they've lost sight of what it means to be responsible stewards of the public good.
Most organizations are slashing marketing and public affairs expenditures like crazy right now ... I know because I'm a freelance writer with a workload that is disappearing right before my eyes.
Most organizations are also freezing pay or cutting it ... not to mention laying off people right and left.
ElectriCities has its head in the sand. What a sad state of affairs.