Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/521442
4 JUNE 3-9, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM As is the case with many of you, I feel that most of my year has revolved around the ongoing battle between the City of Fayetteville and PWC. At times, it is exhausting. I need a program to keep track of all of the different charges lodged by city staff against the utility, because they change on a regular basis. During the recent public forum arranged by City Manager Ted Voorhees, the latest in PWC's list of heinous crimes was the expenditure of $500,000 in a five-year period on charities and local causes. Shocking! A business, because like it or not, PWC is a business, with a $350 million budget spending $100,000 a year on community events is disgraceful, right? Wrong! Let's compare that $100,000 to the $600,000 Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative doles out in one year in grants to area schools. That's a good thing, but when compared to that, PWC's civic involvement is chump change. Like many businesses in the U.S., local giving has been on the decline, with business leaders encouraging their employees to become active in the community and to give back through volunteer efforts. At PWC, that is also the case. PWC's employees raised more than $535,000 in that same five year period for the United Way, It seems that PWC puts feet to their mission, and does not just pay it lip service. If PWC and its city-appointed commission has committed a major crime, it has been in being too successful. Unless something is thriving, successful and profitable, no one covets it. Have you ever heard of corporate raiders going after a broke company? Not going to happen. If PWC didn't look like a good bet, the city staff wouldn't look at it like it was the goose that laid the golden egg. If PWC was poorly managed or losing money, the city manager would not want it. That's just one more problem he would have to solve. But because the utility is so successful, because it runs efficiently, it is something to be coveted. It is a means of making ends meet, while continuing to build a growing level of paid staff within the city. Thanks, but no thanks. The reality in today's world of constrained resources is flattened communications and command and control. There cannot be layers of leadership because that is not practical or affordable. The city cannot spend what it does not have, and if it needs more, than it needs to raise taxes or limit its expenditures. PWC's mission is to ensure that lights come on when their customers flip a switch and that clean water comes out when they turn on the faucet. They do that very well, and to the contrary of many who spoke at the recent public hearing, they do it very economically. For those who missed the numbers the first time, let's be clear: PWC's residential rate is 4.49 percent less than the North Carolina average and 12.29 percent less than the national average. For industrial users, PWC is 3.27 percent less than the state average and 6.9 percent less than the national average, according to Electric City. There are those in leadership positions who are encouraging the idea that PWC's rates are out of line and are that way because of mismanagement. Numbers do not lie; people do. PWC's rates are better than most in the state. If someone tells you differently, look at what they want, what they hope to take and who they are trying to fool. Anytime you hear someone talking about rates and expenditures but they can't back up what they are saying, i.e., PWC has spent $500,000 on local issues, but they forget to mention that is over five years and is well below what other utilities spend; or who says that PWC's rates are too high, but can't tell you what they are, is probably trying to sell you a bill of goods. Don't buy it. STAFF PUBLISHER'S PEN PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com ART DIRECTOR Sara Smith art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Heather Griffiths DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ OFFICE COORDINATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverlypone@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ADMINISTRATOR Mandi Hawley Mandi@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and infor- mation on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per per- son. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. PWC Isn't the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg by JANICE BURTON JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? Edi- tor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Corporate Sponsors: Utley & Knowles CPAs