I had a *really* interesting discussion with a local business person about the upcoming debate over how to pay for Normans future water needs. I have been arguing that fairness demands that the determination of water rates for customers and the determination of water-connection fees for developers should be conducted on the same basis. If customers are expected to pay for the full costs of water, developers should be expected to pay the full costs of water connections. My business friend ran this idea by some members of the development community and they explicitly rejected the idea of treating water rates and water-connection fees in the same way. As she noted, developers see themselves as in the business of developing properties and trying to make a profit by doing so; they will always see it from *only* that perspective. If equal treatment isnt profit maximizing, they arent in favor of it, period. Frankly, I am SHOCKED by this. Equity, shared sacrifice, fulfilling obligations, even setting up appropriate incentives - all of these are meaningless to Normans development community. They are completely unashamed to have utility customers pay their way; in fact, they are trying to maneuver the City into that very thing. I teach business ethics at OU - this sort of we-get-what-we-want-however-we-can position doesnt pass basic muster as a moral position. Demanding that people poorer than you take care of your share of the common good is sociopathic. The only thing worse than the development communitys demands would be if the City caved in to them. Unfortunately, that is well within the realm of possibility. Some members of the City staff seem to think that what is good for developers is good for Norman. Further, some City Councilmembers are already warning citizens that politics involves compromise. (Of course, compromises arent for utility customers; they are only for the business community.) As a mark of just how likely the City of Norman is to cave-in to developer demands, note that only 1 of the 9 City Councilmembers - Greg Jungman - has been publicly willing to advocate for the principle that developers should get the same sort of cost-based deal that rate payers are being offered. There is only one way to enforce the principle that development should pay its own way - vote NO on any water rate increase until the City charges developers the full cost of a water connection, as calculated using the same set of numbers used to determine the water rate increase. To do otherwise would be to tell the Coty that you want them to ignore your interests in favor of developer interests. #nountil
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 03:14:21 +0000
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