Don’t Be Fooled: Proposed “Rate Hike” Is A Tax Hike.
Boulder City just quietly posted a legal notice on Facebook. That's how you find out the government wants more of your money these days.
The proposal: raise electric, water and wastewater rates by up to 5 percent a year for the next three years.
Do the math. That's a 15 percent hike by 2029.
City officials are calling it a “rate increase.” Don't let them fool you.
When government mandates a price hike and you have no choice but to pay it, that's not a market transaction. That's a tax.
And you're the one footing the bill.
Follow the money
The city hired an outside firm, FSC Group, to run a “comprehensive utility plan and rate study.”
Translation: they paid consultants to build a case for raising your bills.
If approved, the hikes would bring in nearly $1.5 million a year.
Electric customers would kick in about $925,000 of that. Water customers, roughly $393,000. Wastewater customers, about $94,000.
City hall says the electric money is needed for the aging power grid.
The wastewater money is for capital projects.
And the water money? That one's especially telling. It's meant to plug an operating deficit in the water fund.
In other words, Boulder City has been spending more than it takes in. And instead of fixing that spending problem, their answer is to send you the bill.
The worst possible timing
Every poll in America right now says the same thing: Affordability is THE issue voters care about.
Groceries cost too much. Insurance costs too much. Housing costs too much. And utility bills already eat up a bigger share of family budgets than they did a few years ago.
So naturally, Boulder City's answer is to make electricity, water and sewer service more expensive.
Right when families can least afford it.
If a business ran a deficit, it would cut costs. It wouldn't just raise prices on its customers and call it a “study.”
Joe Hardy's track record should concern you
Here's something Boulder City residents ought to know about their mayor.
Joe Hardy has a rather unique distinction in Nevada political history.
He's the only Republican to vote for both of the two largest tax increases in state history. Once in 2003 as an assemblyman. Again in 2015 as a state senator.
Two of the biggest tax hikes in Nevada's history. Both with Joe Hardy's fingerprints on them.
Now his city wants a three-year, double-digit utility rate hike.
Anyone see a pattern here?
Talk is cheap
Politicians love to say they're against raising your taxes right up until the vote that raises your taxes.
That's why voters shouldn't settle for vague campaign promises.
Before Election Day, every candidate for office in Boulder City, and everywhere else in Nevada, should be asked of they’ve signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
The pledge is simple. A candidate commits, IN WRITING, to oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.
That includes tax hikes disguised as “fees” or “rate increases” – which is exactly the trick being played on Boulder City right now.
A candidate who won't sign the pledge is telling you something. A candidate who signs it and then votes for a rate hike anyway is telling you something too.
Voters shouldn't have to guess where a candidate stands on raising their bills. Make them put it in writing before you give them your vote.
Before Boulder City reaches deeper into your wallet, city hall should be asked a simple question. What spending is getting cut before residents get taxed?
And before you cast your next ballot, ask every candidate a simple question too. Have you signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?
What You Can Do
“Raise rates” should never be the answer. It shouldn't even be on the list of options.
Government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
The answer to a budget shortfall isn't to squeeze more out of families who are already stretched thin. It's to cut the spending that created the shortfall in the first place.
Call it a rate hike. Call it a fee. Call it whatever euphemism the consultants dream up.
A tax hike by any other name still empties your wallet the same way.
And in an economy where families are already rationing groceries and putting off doctor visits to make rent, there is no excuse for government at any level to be reaching for more of your money.
Not now. Not ever. But especially not now.
The city is accepting public comment through Aug. 13.
You can weigh in through the comment form by clicking here.
Or by emailing Public Works/Utilities Director Gary Poindexter (yes, that’s his real name!) at publicworks@bcnv.org.
Nevada voters on Election Day can say so even louder.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
