Anderson, Jonathan From: Sent: To: Subject: Meyer, Chris Wednesday, April 19, 2017 2:36 PM Anderson, Jonathan Re: Request for comment -- Chris Meyer Jonathon, I provided answers to your questions below. Thank you for reaching out in advance of your article. I appreciate that. This is an important event and one that I talk about publicly when I return on WDLB. I attend every single year and encourage council members, commission members and other to as well. It is incredibly important to the continued success of our utility and in limiting the increased costs for local government (which means increases in taxes or utility rates). The easiest example to give is one of our main topics this year on tax exempt municipal bonds, or Munis. Tax Exempt status of Munis has been a topic of discussion for elimination for several years. While it is tough to shed a tear for a large bank having to pay income taxes on the money they make off of us via interest on our bonds, the fact of the matter is, they pass those back down to us. This would result in a .25-.5% in interest rates. While that may not sound bad, consider the following. The peaking plant we built in Marshfield cost $35M. That was bonded. Should that rate increase from 2% to 2.5% (I don't know the actual rate off the top of my head), that .5% increase would result in additional interest expenses of almost $95,000 per year that would be covered through increased utility rates. Compound that across all City borrowing for roads and infrastructure we could easily see increases of over a quarter million annually in interest costs. In addition, we cover many other issues at this event. We participate in discussions about cyber security, grid reliability, transmission issues, rail service costs (monopolization), regulatory mandates and many other issues that have a direct impact on the rates we pay for our public power or taxes we pay as residents of the City or townships we live in. The $11,000 cost is a great headline, but when you consider the success we have had, the support we have generated for locally owned utilities by our elected officials in DC and the ability to get our local representatives educated on the importance of our local utility, the cost comes in to perspective. We should note that many communities throughout the state attend, from Wisconsin Rapids to Manitowoc to Keil to Kaukauna. All are there for the same purpose. To preserve publicly owned utilities and continue to provide extremely competitive rates to their customers. If you look at our power rates of around 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour and compare those to rates paid in communities with IOW power utilities, the savings are apparent. Madison had rates, during peak times, of .17 cents. That's double what we charge. Our local utility is a strong component of our economic development efforts. We have businesses located here in Marshfield that choose Marshfield specifically because of our locally owned utility. Chris 1 From: Anderson, Jonathan Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 6:10 PM To: Meyer, Chris; cm91976@gmail.com Subject: Request for comment -- Chris Meyer Chris, I am preparing a news story about Marshfield Utilities’ trip to Washington earlier this year for the American Public Power Association’s legislative rally, which you also attended. I have the following questions: 1. Why did you attend this conference? Marshfield Utilities is owned by the City, that means all of our taxpayers. As the owners, we participate in this event because of it's importance to our community and potential significant impacts of not being actively involved (more on that later). 2. Have you attended this conference in years past, and if so, which years? Every single year I have been Mayor and I will again next year and I will encourage the next Mayor to continue this. I also encourage our Council President to attend as well as members of the council serving on the Utility Commission. In addition to education on the Utility, which is extensive, their presence is powerful when meeting with Senators and Representatives. 3. Why did your wife and daughter join you on this trip? My Wife, daughter and I flew out in advance of the trip. My daughter did not attend this event. When we participate in legislative rallies in DC or Madison, there is power in numbers. We support our attendees bringing spouses as a way to encourage attendance and increase our presence. While food costs are covered for these family members for the dinners (not breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc... only when they are participating in the dinners with the larger group), airfare, hotels stays (if they need an additional room) and other costs are the responsibility of the individual members. My wife did join us on this trip and did participate in the visits to congressional members at no cost. I even paid for her cab ride without reimbursement. 4. You did not attend the dinner at Filomena Ristorante on Feb. 26, correct? Correct. I did join the group later, but not in time for dinner. 5. Your hotel bill includes several $4 charges for a service described as “PREMHSIA.” What was that service? One possibility is high-speed internet access. Internet Access is correct. 6. You received $400 worth of per diems for this trip, at $100 per day. However, my understanding is that you attended three days of the conference, from Monday, Feb. 27 to Wednesday, March 1. Why isn’t the per diem payment at $300 instead? The event was Sunday - Wednesday, 4 days. I did attend on Sunday, but not for dinner. The $100 per diem is a City policy that compensates elected officials when they travel out of town for the day. The Mayor and council members generally need to take vacation from their normal job to do this. They incur other costs from used vacation days to kenneling their pet or arranging for child care while they travel. This $100 per diem is to help defray those real costs. 7. The story will note that the trip cost MU ratepayers approximately $11,000, which covered the costs of staying at a luxury hotel, eating at expensive restaurants and drinking alcohol. You are welcome to comment about the propriety of the trip’s cost if you wish. 2 That is certainly an edgy angle, but is not a true picture of the event. $11,000 is a lot of money. However, the issues discussed, such as the tax exempt municipal bond issue have the potential of increasing costs for rate payers and tax payers by far more. As pointed out above, our peaking plant alone would cost an additional ~$100,000 per year in increased interest if the bonds used to build it were not tax exempt. in addition to utility projects, this same tax exemption benefits the city in almost all of our General Obligation Debt borrowing. If all of our outstanding debt were to increase by .5% in interest charges, we would be looking at an increase in costs of around $250,000 year for rate and tax payers combined. We've successfully prevented this for 5 straight years and will continue to fight for the best interests of the residents and customers we serve. We could not do this event on our own. The APPA is a national organization and works closely with WPPI and MEUW to organize this event. By doing this, we save considerably and have a more powerful presence when we meet with legislators. Each night there is a dinner. Food is provided and alcohol is often served. This usually includes wine or a limited drink menu. Please note that attendees may choose to go "out" after the evening is completed, but that is on their own...I've often bought a round or two as a thank you to those who took time away from their work and family to attend and help with this event. The hotel is contracted for 5 years. Previously we were at the Grand Hyatt. If you dig deeper, you will find that we have stayed at cheaper hotels to save on costs, but also realized the barriers to being as engaged in the conference when we do this. This is not an 8-5 event. The day may start at 7am and go until 10pm with several extended breaks in between. Having our attendees at the hotel the event is held at is convenient and encourages better engagement with peers who are attending from other communities. I would appreciate a response by noon tomorrow (April 19). Thank you. Jonathan Anderson Central Wisconsin Public Issues Investigator Office: 715-898-7010 Mobile: 715-207-8158 Twitter: @jonathanderson wausaudailyherald.com stevenspointjournal.com wisconsinrapidstribune.com marshfieldnewsherald.com 3