Editor, The Record:
Re: Is it time for metering?, Aug. 4, 2011 edition.
The answer may be not until we can afford it. We often hear our elected persons in many levels of government, speak of the economy, trade with other countries, loss of jobs, and so on, yet their actions really do not improve the situation for the residents. Citizens expect that our tax monies should be used in the most effective manner to provide necessities and service them properly, which in turn should keep annual property taxes within reason but presently, according to reports, Mission is one of the highest taxed.
All new spending should be considered from more than one angle, as otherwise the resultant domino effect is overlooked until negative results are obvious.
How will metering household water improve bringing this natural resource to households? Will it improve the water, make it less expensive, be more reliable, create jobs, etc.?
Not at all, and in fact, it will end up being more expensive and the jobs that might be created in manufacturing the meters, is being done in Asia and then the product is shipped to us.
The fact present water pipes are very likely leaking, but are not going to be repaired, will result in that loss water being billed to citizens along the line. Many other systems that are built for public use are often not kept in good repair with servicing over the years, and then have to be totally replaced at a much higher cost. Most people would not handle their homes or vehicles in this way.
The article states the high cost of installing the system and also mentions possibly using a portion of gas tax revenue, which would be a true example of robbing Peter to pay Paul. We have a fairly recent new system in billing consumers for household energy where there is a higher rate for the basic usage, and then a higher rate if more is used.
I would venture to say that there is probably no household that would ever be able to keep their usage in the basic rate, no matter how they economize, so in fact it is a built-in price increase.
Shifting tax incomes, borrowing from other tax funds or getting grants from other levels of government is just a way to cover actual spending, and does not reduce taxes to residents since ultimately that is from where all the money comes.
Becoming more self-sufficient, using our own natural resources to create jobs here instead of shifting them off-shore, is ultimately the way we can reduce the cost of services for our communities. The alternative is to end up with the financial difficulties many countries now find themselves in because they didn’t watch where the dominoes would end up.
Lila Rauh
Mission
