Brand on public utilities
The City of Fresno is currently considering the creation of a new, independent public utility district. This district would cover most of Fresno. Ostensibly, this offers the opportunity to save millions of dollars for customers. It has been estimated that this new district could save taxpayers about $7.7 million over 15 years. The primary reason for reducing costs is the new district would qualify for lower, tax exempt interest rates on bond financing. Current city bonds cannot be refinanced because they have exceeded the maximum number of refinances. It is estimated that refinancing could free up as much as $138 million for new projects in Fresno.
The only salient question is how this new district would affect the city’s 600-700 utility employees. City employee representatives are obviously concerned about what will happen to the city employees affected.
In addition to the potential cost savings, the new utility district will have an independent board of directors elected by the voters of Fresno. An independent board will be more removed from the politics at city hall and provide more attention to the utility issues. I would support this new district if careful evaluation can confirm the potential costs savings and that the new district can integrate the city employees with comparable wages and benefits.