Exploiting the Gas Customer
Southwest Texas Municipal Gas Company (SWTMGC), a non-profit corporation, is jointly owned by the cities of Marfa and Alpine. The purpose of the corporation is to bring natural gas to the Marfa, Alpine, Fort Davis area of West Texas at the lowest possible rates for the benefit of the citizens. Recently this purpose has become blurred as the cities of Marfa and Alpine have become increasingly starved for cash with which to operate.
Last October the Board of Directors raised the rate they charge us for gas by $4.90 to $16.60/MCF. The corporation is presently paying about $9.17/MCF. As a result, they are now sitting on approximately $600,000 in profits... But wait, they are a non-profit organization!
By some estimates they have about $300,000 in repairs to their infrastructure that must be accomplished in the near term... No problem, get after it. That leaves $300,000 the customers were "over charged" in this time frame. As winter approaches, when we will be running those gas heaters again, two things come to mind:
Gas Rates Should Be Lower
Rebates For The Over Charge Should Be Coming
What's to keep this from happening? Mayors Lanman & Clouse, both gas board members, want the cash we were over charged to prop up their bankrupt city budgets. In spite of the fact that this gas corporation cannot, by its own By-Laws, disperse its assets to the cities unless it is first dissolved, payments were made to the cities of Marfa and Alpine in 2002 and 2005! The price of gas wasn't so high then and nobody seemed to mind... They got away with it. Not now.
Marfa citizens should contact Hester Ann White, Ken Whitley and Rudy Garcia to encourage them as they attempt to represent the gas customer on the gas board. Remember, the purpose of the gas corporation is NOT to make a profit for the cities to split. We should not stand by and let them do just that with our silence. Those gas bills will be coming sooner than later.
Last October the Board of Directors raised the rate they charge us for gas by $4.90 to $16.60/MCF. The corporation is presently paying about $9.17/MCF. As a result, they are now sitting on approximately $600,000 in profits... But wait, they are a non-profit organization!
By some estimates they have about $300,000 in repairs to their infrastructure that must be accomplished in the near term... No problem, get after it. That leaves $300,000 the customers were "over charged" in this time frame. As winter approaches, when we will be running those gas heaters again, two things come to mind:
Gas Rates Should Be Lower
Rebates For The Over Charge Should Be Coming
What's to keep this from happening? Mayors Lanman & Clouse, both gas board members, want the cash we were over charged to prop up their bankrupt city budgets. In spite of the fact that this gas corporation cannot, by its own By-Laws, disperse its assets to the cities unless it is first dissolved, payments were made to the cities of Marfa and Alpine in 2002 and 2005! The price of gas wasn't so high then and nobody seemed to mind... They got away with it. Not now.
Marfa citizens should contact Hester Ann White, Ken Whitley and Rudy Garcia to encourage them as they attempt to represent the gas customer on the gas board. Remember, the purpose of the gas corporation is NOT to make a profit for the cities to split. We should not stand by and let them do just that with our silence. Those gas bills will be coming sooner than later.
posted by DanD at 1:32 PM
2 Comments:
Not only is the financial aspect a concern, but so is the "secret" meeting where this was discussed. Accoding to Jack McNamara's NIMBY column in the Sentinel on 8/17, the mayors of Alpine and Marfa met with the gas company's finance person in July to discuss this potentially illegal disbursement of a non-profit's profits. If two people meet to conduct business, this is a potential TOMA violation.
I think that many people, myself included, have thrown open meeting accusations around too lightly. This law should not be used to harass well-intentioned councilmembers and board members. But decisions involving hundreds of thousands of dollars must be made in public and not in secret.
It is state law that elected officials and all government officers who might be subject to an open records request have to take a training course prepared on video by the Attorney General's Office. When the City of Marfa course was given recently, the Mayor was not available; he went to another meeting. The cobbler's kids have no shoes.
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