Calendar - Events - Monthly Meetings - Obituaries

Friday, November 21, 2008 at 7:25 PM

Posted in Calendar Events Monthly Meetings Obituaries

by DCN

1 Comments | Post Comment | Email This

---

Friday, April 4, 2008 - June 27 10 am Braswell Library Rate Committee Meeting re Electric Rates

Please post for people to attend the June 27 Rate Committee Meeting at the Braswell Library in Rocky Mount. It is at 10 am and is for all 32 cities in eastern NC who are members of the NC Eastern Municipal Power Agency and ElectriCities.



Electric Rates are going up again. And by a lot. Everyone can sit around and wait or you can go and be heard. What is done on wholesale rates at this meeting affect the rates you pay in your city. If the wholesale rate goes up 10%, you can bet it will be going up in Rocky Mount, Wilson, Scotland Neck.



Folks I am here to tell you. Talk to the folks in the city in the electric department. Electricities waited from October to March to tell them about it - we are talking BIG time electric rate increases right at a time when the economy is slowing down. Sure, there are some legitimate factors. I read the paper and understand that china and india are growing and using coal so I can understand that but what I do not understand are all of these EXCESSIVE ElectriCities costs and why no one wants to figure it out or yell so it STOPS.



I hold Bruce Rose responsible for Wilson and Fred Turnage responsible for Rocky Mount and Sam Noble responsible for Tarboro since they are on the BOARD. I hope Ricardo Dew keeps attending meetings and asking questions. He ran for Mayor of Wilson and is committed to figuring it out. That is the only way to correct it.

For too long these people in Raleigh get away with this junk and we all sit back and pay for it. I do not want my hard earned money paying some dude in raleigh $500,000 to sit around and schedule dates on line. Jesse Tilton's staff is open about how they detest him; people who worked there detest him; people in the cities detest him; legislators detest him. New leadership is needed. The last straw should be the fact that this fat cat lazy dude sat around and did not tell anyone that he did a bad refinancing deal that is costing us now in monthly interest rates and will cost more and make the rates increase EVEN MORE. Should he be doing that with our future?



Then, Jesse Tilton yells "off with his head" to the CFO and blames him. Sorry, the buck stops at Tilton. He needs to go back to whereever he came from so we can all see positive change.



Recently in the Wilson Times,

Utility bills skyrocket in local public housing

By Rochelle Moore | Daily Times Staff Writer

Tony Langston was shocked when he opened his housing bill Friday in the Forrest Road Homes community.
What normally costs him about $500 for three months worth in rent and city utilities had skyrocketed to almost $1,000.
"This has never happened before," Langston said. "If anything fluctuates, it's usually five to 10 dollars, not $380 to $400."
Langston's experience is similar to other residents living in the public housing neighborhood, where residents receive subsidized housing and utilities through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Michelle Hardgrove, the manager of the housing community, said she's received about 15 to 20 complaints since the bills went out last week. Langston thinks there are many more in the residential community who are complaining privately but not publicly.
"I want to know why it's this high," he said. "I want some answers."
Tamika Spells, a Parkview Street resident, also saw her bill jump this quarter. Normally, she pays $175 for rent but keeps her utility use at the allowable level and does not receive any bill for water, sewer, electric or gas.
Not this time.


"My bill is running $800, and I'm wondering what I'm going to do," Spells said. "It's just outrageous this month."
For the most recent three-month period, December through February, she was charged $175 for rent and $608 for utilities.
"I'm burning the same amount (of electricity) that I have been," Spells said. "They'll let us make payments, but I don't see that if I didn't burn it."
Public housing residents are given allowances for utility use. The allowances are paid for through HUD. But if a resident uses more than he is allotted, he is charged, said Edward Jagnandan, Wilson Housing Authority director.
Residents are noticing increases in their bills this quarter because of changes in tenant allowances, which brought increases in utility costs.
The last time the Wilson Housing Authority changed its utility rate structure was two years ago.
"I was charging them the old rates," Jagnandan said. "Now, it's the first time it's being implemented, so it's creating a hardship. The newer rates are a little higher."
Public housing residents were notified by letter before the increases went into effect. They will also receive another letter in the next several days notifying them of the changes as well as ways to pay their bills through installment plans.
"Some, more than others, it hit pretty hard," Jagnandan said. "The Housing Authority wants to do what's fair and equitable for the residents. Obviously, I can't let it go for free. The ones who are hurting, I'm going to rectify that with an installment plan."
The utility allowance structure changed for all public housing residents, not just those in the Forrest Road Homes community. Jagnandan has heard that most of the complaints have come from people within the Forrest Road Homes area.
The city of Wilson charges the Wilson Housing Authority monthly for utilities. After subsidizing utility costs, the housing authority then sends out bills once every three months. The bills include rent and utilities.
HUD pays close to two-thirds the cost of utilities in Wilson for people living in public housing. From December through February, the Wilson Housing Authority was charged $367,334 in utility costs by the city. The housing authority then charged its public housing residents $116,725.
Gregg Owens, a business office manager for the city, said there has not been any change in the city's billing practices and no large fluctuation in utility use.
"Before we billed (the housing authority), we didn't have any indication that the bill was not normal," Owens said.
rochelle@wilsontimes.com | 265-7818


Edited by curmilus on Friday, April 4, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Posted by Anonymous