By ROBERT (BUCK) MONDAY
Rio Rancho

I read with great interest the proposed changes to Article V of the Los Alamos Charter, which rewrites the existing Article V regarding the Department of Public Utilities (DPU).

Of course the initial question is why is something being “fixed” when it’s not broken? Full disclosure. I was the utilities manager in Los Alamos for more than five years from 2003 to 2008 and have been a utilities manager in both Gallup and Las Cruces. Which begs another question. Neither I, nor at least one other past utilities manager were contacted regarding this Charter change. Odd!  

If  the charter committee wanted to make a fair and unbiased proposal it seems that they would have wanted to hear both pros and cons regarding any changes. While it’s unfortunate, elected officials can and will go after money where they can find it. In this Charter change, the council can demand cost reduction from DPU while raising rates providing more “funds” being transferred to the General Fund (504(g)). 505.5 Dispute resolution. The council can do what it wants in manipulating DPU. They can, for instance, rid themselves of a Board member who does not do their bidding by voting no confidence in that member. The Board member needs to do nothing wrong, other than displeasing a majority plus one of the councilors.

As someone who has spent many years in the management of municipal utilities, I have time and again seen elected officials make demands on a utility aimed at furthering some project or agenda of a mayor or councilor(s). As an example, one municipality where I worked a mayor talked a majority of the council into approving a transfer of $1 million from the electric utility rather than raising taxes or utilizing general fund money for a pet project.

In every budget cycle proposals come forward from General Fund staff for more money. Development of a General Funds budget is a zero sum game. If one department gets more, another has to get less, except where the council has another bucket of money to draw from. Don’t give them Carte Blanche to draw from utilities. This Charter change is poorly thought out and will result in residents being taxed while not knowing it.