Stealth Taxation in Georgetown

We all owe a great big thanks to Bill Stump, Jr., for his letter to the Sunday, April 24, 2016 edition of the Wilco Sun. In his letter he exposes the fact that Georgetown's electric utility makes a profit which the city uses to fund other city services.

"This utility belongs to us,the citizens of the City of Georgetown. Instead of going to distant shareholders, the money it makes helps pay for our police, firefighters, library, parks, roads, etc., through a transfer to the General Fund. Last year, this transfer to the General Fund accounted for nearly 20 percent of revenues, or over $10.3 million. If not for this money, all of us who pay property taxes, or pay rent to those who pay property taxes,would have to pay much more, or do without the services we have come to expect."

This money that the utility makes comes from over charging its customers! It is a hidden tax on the utility customers and the citizens of Georgetown.

I wonder how those utility customers who are outside the city limits, but purchase city electricity feel about paying for Georgetown's parks, roads, libraries, police etc? How about all the renters, would they like a smaller utility bill?

Many property owners are able to deduct their property taxes on their federal tax return, but, they cannot deduct their utility costs unless it is a business.

It is also a subterfuge that allows the city to claim that Georgetown's property tax rate is among the lowest in central Texas. Other cities of a similar size do not own utilities and so have to pay for all their city services through taxation.

To maintain the same level of city services without the utility subsidizing the cost, the city would have to increase the taxes in the amount of $10.3 million, which would be highly visible to the property owners where as the "profit" in the utility rates is not readily seen because the city is very secretive about how much they pay to purchase electricity from wind and solar generating companies.

Perhaps it's time for the city to set utility rates to achieve break-even and directly tax the citizens for the level of services they are willing to pay for.