Waterbillology--Lumberton Style

There will be a public hearing regarding the second water rate increase in this budget year. The other day I said I would share with you my theory behind this additional rate hike. This board has not shown any fiduciary responsibility to the citizens that elected them into office. Shortly after being elected, they made a pseudo gesture of voting to reduce their salaries to $1/month and they also revoked the Mayor's salary and she now receives a check for .99/month. But the money they were receiving in salary is minuscule in contrast to the expensive health/dental insurance that the City of Lumberton is paying for each alderman. In the past, the City of Lumberton only paid insurance benefits for the mayor, but when Barry Waites, Butch Davis, and Ben Winston (The Killer B's) were elected, they changed the format (b/c all of them were self-employed) and voted to pay insurance for the aldermen and the mayor. Well, since this administration has been spending money without any minute plan of how to manage the finaces of the city, they are now in a quandary and must have a specific amount of finances in reserve for the next administration. Now all the pay raises, and budget amendments have come home to roost and they must find a way to get some money into the city coffers. Well, someone found out about the MS Rural Water Association and they decided to pay the fees so they could get the $250,000 grant. Ben Barrett said the money would not do much to help the sewer system and was against pursuing the grant, but the board of aldermen jumped at the opportunity to obtain the extra money despite knowing that they would be required to raise the water rates this year and every succeeding year. In my opinion, the board of aldermen want this grant because they have, and always had, the intention of voting to retro pay themselves at the end of their term; which is why they wouldn't submit individuals letters to donate the salary to the City of Lumberton. Instead, they voted to set their salary at $1/month so they could go back and retro pay themselves their salaries and the money from the MS Rural Water Association will allow them to free up the funds to give themselves a big payday at the end of their term. There will be a public hearing on April 5, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Citizens will have the opportunity to voice their concerns regarding the increase, but despite what the citizens have to say, the board, more than likely, will still move forward with the water rate increase. So, be prepared for the excuses. They're going to blame the previous administrations and they're going to blame the increase on the closure of Cooper Industries, etc. But the blame rests with them and their misappropriation of the city funds(the uncessary raises, the conferences, the lack of checks and balances, not checking the Fuelman accounts, etc.) For some reason, this board does not want a system of checks and balances in place, despite having the city clerk on board with the idea. In my opinion, it seems that they would make sure that all the water billing issues are resolved before voting on another water rate increase, but that would be too logical, especially for this group. Well, the matter is now in the hands of the citizens and on April 5,2012 you should come out and see how your tax dollars are being wasted.