WESTERN SKIES - November 15, 2005

*** COMMENTARY: UTILITIES SHOULDN'T SUBSIDIZE DEVELOPMENT ***

HOST LEAD: Over the past several weeks, people throughout the country have gotten a rude shock when opening their utility bills. With energy prices rising, some people are worrying about how to pay for heat and electricity this winter. Here in Colorado Springs, our city-owned utility company has told customers that local rates will rise less than the national average, thanks to prudent buying practices. But commentator Dave Gardner, says Springs Utilities is still overcharging customers, but for a different reason.

DAVE GARDNER: Would you like to cut your family's utility bills by six hundred dollars a year? If you own a business, would a six thousand five hundred dollar reduction get your interest? This would be possible, if the Colorado Springs City Council had the courage and enlightenment to get our citizen-owned utility out of the "economic development" business. Today our utility gives generous tap-fee discounts to new houses and businesses connecting to the system. Problem is, these discounts must be funded through higher utility rates.

In effect, our utility taxes employers in our community in order to fund move-in discounts for new businesses and upper-income families. Most objective economic development experts agree: it's better to nurture the businesses you have, rather than toss untargeted incentives at luring new companies to town. Some of our biggest employers have told us (and studies confirm) these incentives are insignificant in relocation decisions.

Yet our utility is doing it. This makes it harder for struggling families to meet their monthly budget. Impossible for retirees on fixed incomes to keep the heat on. And it reduces financial resources existing employers could use to increase wages or expand.

Now, the Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corporation promotes the practice. But let's remember, the EDC was formed by developers. It's a private corporation with no public accountability. Their agenda is their own bottom-line: grow the market at any cost, as long as the public picks up that cost.

If you look at our city, utility and hospital 2006 budgets, over three-hundred forty-thousand dollars in public money is earmarked for direct financial support of the special-interest EDC. It's time to get our utility and hospital out of the economic development business altogether. Life-support should not be taxed to fund the developers' agenda. And if we're going to expend public dollars on economic development, instead of hiding it in our utility bills, let's bring it out in the open. Economic development policies that are good for the entire community can withstand the daylight of public scrutiny. Let's spend those funds on a publicly accountable program that serves the best interests of all our citizens and their employers. There are some great models out there. Economic development for all.

I'm going to call and write our City Council members. And I'll speak up at the utility rate hearing the afternoon of November sixteenth at City Hall. But I'm challenging some very entrenched thinking. It would help to have some company joining me down there in the lion's den. Or at least calling or writing.

According to utility budget forecasts, your share of the cost of utility-based economic development in 2010 will rise to fifteen hundred dollars (sixteen thousand if you're a commercial customer). We're in an age of rapidly rising gas costs, and increasingly scarce and expensive water. So it's time to stop this hidden tax in utility bills to fund an ineffective, unneeded, and outdated approach to economic development.

WHITNEY: Dave Gardner is the founder and chairman of Save the Springs, a watchdog organization that monitors land use, environmental, and economic development issues.

And that wraps up this edition of Western Skies. Stephen Raher is our associate producer. Delaney Utterback is the IT wrangler. Colorado College student Molly Adams helps out with production. I'm Eric Whitney, thanks for listening.