Privatizing Water Would Soak Consumers
TheMilwaukee Common Council has backed off the city’s attempt to lease theMilwaukee Water Works to a private corporation as a way to generate revenue forthe cash-strapped but water-rich city.
Earlier thisyear, Milwaukee Comptroller Wally Morics had estimated that a 99-year leasewould add $30 million to the city’s coffers every year. Not bad, when youconsider that the city is facing an eye-popping $90 million deficit next year.
But that’swhat the city government would have gained if a deal had gone through.
Consumers,on the other hand, likely would have gotten soaked.
According toa just-released report by the national consumer advocacy group Food & WaterWatch, for every dollar the city would have received from the deal, consumerswould have had to pay $1.60 to $5.40 to the private company, or about $17million to $31 million each year.
Consumerswould have to cover the private company’s profits, higher interest rates onbonds and income taxes. In contrast, the publicly owned Water Works pays noincome tax, has a lower interest rate on bonds, and doesn’t generate a profit.It does, however, send a few million dollars to the city’s coffers each year.
“If the citypursues this [privatization] option, there is ample evidence that the communitycould suffer from high rates and poor service,” the study warned.
We hope theCommon Council is listening.
Hero of theWeek
EnvironmentalEducator John Lunz
While Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and theMilwaukee Common Council battle over future funding for the nationallyrecognized Milwaukee County Park System, others are taking direct action topreserve our area’s vital green spaces for future generations. One suchindividual is John Lunz, chair of the Park People’s Environmental Committee.Jim Goulee, interim executive director of the Park People, described Lunz as a“missionary for educating people about, and eradicating, invasive species inthe parks.” Also the president of Preserve Our Parks and a Navy veteran, Lunzstill teaches occasionally at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), fromwhich he retired in 2007. In addition to his educational efforts, Lunz can befound with his hands in the dirt most Saturdays in the spring and fall, leading“weed-outs,” in which groups of volunteers remove invasive species from parks.For his tireless endeavors to keep Milwaukee’s parks in award-winningcondition, we make Lunz our Hero of the Week, and urge readers who wish to getinvolved to visit www.parkpeoplemke.org.
Jerk of theWeek
State Rep.Brett Davis
In an effort to appeal to our baser human instincts,state Rep. Brett Davis (R-Oregon) proposed denying the H1N1 vaccine to inmatesin the state prison system. He characterized the situation as “prisonersgetting vaccine, but children are not,” portraying the Wisconsin Department ofHealth Services as stealing candy bars and vaccines from state children anddistributing the loot to an undeserving convict near you. Davis would evenwithhold medical care from at-risk pregnant prisoners. ACLU Wisconsin ExecutiveDirector Christopher Ahmuty decries Davis’ disregard for the health ofcorrectional officers and their families, noting “prisonersand guards are in just the kind of setting that needs aggressive preventivemeasures to avoid widespread infection. Suggesting that prisoners, who are inclose contact with facility staff, are not capable of catching and spreadingthe virus is ludicrous. To suggest that they should not receive vaccine becausethey are less important than the ‘law-abiding citizens of our state’ will onlyfurther the spread of H1N1 to everyone.”
Rep. Davis, who is interested in running for lieutenant governor and ispandering to the right-wing base of his party, would better serve Wisconsin bycoming up with positive ideas instead of jeopardizing the health of correctionsemployees and their families.