In a year filled with pay cuts, job losses, plant closures, and otherwise dimming economic prospects, the last thing most LaFayette residents need is an increase in monthly expenses. But that’s what they’ll soon be getting courtesy of the City of LaFayette.

According to the city council meeting agenda for October 11th, which was posted late last week, tonight the LaFayette Council will vote on a “Water Rate Increase” followed by an identical vote for “Electric Rate Increase.” If the vote goes as planned (and it almost always does), your bill for City of LaFayette water and electricity will soon go up higher than it already is.

So far there’s no official explanation for the proposed increases or any word on how much prices will go up, but we do have a good explanation for the change in electricity costs: The amount LaFayette itself pays for bulk power is apparently going to rise. That’s pretty obvious, because the meeting agenda also features a visit from Stuart Jones of MEAG Power. MEAG Power (Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia) is a state-chartered nonprofit power company supplying current to 49 cities scattered across the state.

A visit from a MEAG representative likely means that company plans to raise its own rate for bulk electricity, which is currently 5.37 cents per Kilowatt Hour (kWh). A simple breakdown of a residential power bill shows the city charging 9.399 cents for the same kWH as delivered to local homes. That markup covers the city’s costs for maintaining power lines and equipment, paying linemen, and other necessary parts of running a local power company, but also provides a profit for the city’s general operating fund.

LaFayette’s city government is primarily funded through its “business activities,” operations that could be done by a private entity but are instead handled by the government. For LaFayette, that means the electric, water, gas, and sewer departments (along with franchise fees charged to Comcast, Windstream, and North Georgia Electric) bring in the bulk of revenue, far more than what’s made from property tax receipts. Some profit from those operations goes to fund the money-losing golf course, solid waste department, and airport (also defined as business activities), with the remainder going to the general fund to pay for essential non-business functions like public safety, the rec. department, administration, and public works.

An increase in bulk electricity costs will reduce the amount of profit left to run the city with, so the municipal government will have to either cut back spending or pass the cost increase along to residents – something our leaders seem perfectly happy to do. Individuals can’t go ask their boss for a raise when costs go up, but that’s exactly what many government entities do – they go to the boss (we who pay taxes and vote) and demand a raise so they can continue to pay for amenities and perks while paying higher bills. That’s already happened twice this year in LaFayette: back in April every resident’s water bill went up by $2 to cover a state-imposed fee the city didn’t want to eat, and a few months later the city began charging fees to residents who pay utility bills with a credit card.

All those fees and tonight’s planned cost increase leave families and businesses trying to absorb rising prices with limited resources they already have available. Paying higher prices for vital services means cutting out a vacation, cutting back movies or TV channels, eating out less, or buying off-brand products at the grocery store. All that leads to less spending, stores and businesses bringing in less revenue, reduced sales tax for the state and county government, and possibly even more job losses.

Families and businesses already hanging by a thread after the previous round of increases and an exceptionally warm summer may be pushed over the edge of financial ruin by even a slight uptick in their monthly utility bills. We’ve seen several complaints of families receiving utility bills this summer that were higher than their monthly rent or mortgage payments, and that trend is likely to continue even as seasonal energy use decreases.

The exact rate of increase won’t be known until the meeting, but even a few percentage points can make a huge impact:

A family paying $200 per month on average for electricity and water (excluding garbage, gas, and sewer) will be out an extra $2 every month under a 1% increase. A 5% increase makes their average bill go up $10. That’s not a lot of money for some people, but $120 a year is a real hardship for others. Businesses, churches, schools, and civic groups that have much higher average bills will be impacted more in proportion to their usage. A recent Facebook post from The Care Mission said they were paying a $1,200 utility bill; a 1% increase on that amount would take $144 a year out of their pocket and (literally) from the mouths of hungry people. A 5% increase for the Mission would work out to $720 a year. In the big picture, that’s a lot of cheese.

A rate increase doesn’t have to happen, and there are several other options available for the city’s leaders to explore.

One option would be to drop MEAG Power as the city’s bulk supplier. LaFayette is currently MEAG’S northernmost customer. The next municipality south using their juice is Calhoun, and most of the others are near Atlanta or further south. Being furthest away might add to some of the city’s electricity costs, but even if the distance doesn’t matter there are cheaper alternatives available in the area.

Except for LaFayette and Chickamauga, Walker County uses North Georgia Electric for its power. NGEMC buys electricity in bulk from TVA in Chattanooga at a rate of 3.465 cents per kilowatt hour. Comparatively, MEAG demands 5.37 cents per kWh for electricity in bulk. Simply switching providers, if possible, would save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. That savings could be passed on to customers or even used to boost the city’s general fund without raising prices. TVA also requires its partners to cap their prices at no more than 9.5 cents per kWh, which would keep the city from increasing its prices beyond that point just to bring in more revenue.

Switching providers wouldn’t be the simplest solution and would undoubtedly come with state government interference, but it could be done if the city wanted to do it badly enough – and that’s not the only possibility. Instead of passing higher costs on to us, LaFayette could do what its private citizens must do and tighten the belt a bit by cutting back on luxuries and perks that aren’t justifiable in the current economy. Things like fixing water leaks, improving equipment efficiency, or laying off that guy who’s always sitting in a chair with his legs hanging out the door at the utility office – all would save money in the long run and leave more left to pad out the city’s general fund.

The city could also cut back some of its general fund expenses. Next year’s budget is 1.58% lower than this year’s, but that could be cut further still by not giving city employee health coverage to the councilmen or mayor, by not losing thousands of dollars a year on the airport, by not letting city employees play golf twice a week for free, or by simply turning off the air conditioning and heat in closed rec departments that stay crispy cool (or toasty warm) all year round even though they’re hardly ever used. The city could also save some of its own electricity costs by not using twenty households worth of electricity every night in December for Amazing Christmas light shows; cutting that tacky exhibit back to three or four nights a week instead of seven would save an enormous amount of money during the winter months.

So far those kinds of cost cutting measures haven’t been seen. The city has cut out very little except for services (like road paving and mowing) provided to the residents who pay for everything. The perks and extras that benefit few people are still alive and well, eating up tax money and utility revenues alike even as our personal costs rise and personal incomes fall.

While a rate increase is likely to happen regardless of public sentiment, that doesn’t mean we have to make it easy on those who make the decisions. We’ve learned from past experience that e-mails and phone calls aren’t effective means of contacting city councilmen, so anyone opposed to being stuck with this price increase is strongly encouraged to attend the city council meeting tonight at 7:30 PM.