Agenda 10/12/1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1999 186 RESOLUTION WHEREAS, every state, county, city or town in America should have the right to decide whether it wants to provide electric service to its businesses and residents; and WHEREAS, the consumer-owners of these utilities should have a direct say in and maintain local control over their own electric utility operations and policies; and WHEREAS, the City of Martinsville established its community-owned electric utility in 1900 and our citizens have benefited from this action for almost a century with its Electric Department now serving over 16,000 citizens and WHEREAS, these community-owned utilities, as units of state or local government, have the right to issue tax-free municipal bonds for local infrastructure needs, including electric service; and WHEREAS, the City of Martinsville has issued tax-exempt debt in the past to fund necessary major improvements to its system and wishes to preserve that important right in the future; and WHEREAS, there currently exist federal restrictions on municipal bonds used to develop community-owned electric utilities that prevent these utilities from selling power under many circumstances, and these restrictions will make it difficult, if not impossible, for many of these utilities to operate in the more competitive environment being fostered or mandated by new federal and state laws; and WHEREAS, bipartisan legislation, the Bond Faimess and Protection Act, has been introduced in the Senate (S. 386) by Senators Slade Gorton (R-WA) and Bob Kerrey (D-NE), and in the House of Representatives (H.R. 721 ) by Representatives Hayworth (R-AZ) and Matsui (D-CA) to reconcile these restrictions with the changing character of the electric utility industry in a way that protects our right of local control over our own affairs; and WHEREAS, some private power companies oppose this legislation precisely because it is in their self interest to limit the ability of community-owned utilities to operate in this new environment; and WHEREAS, the opponents of S. 386 and H.R. 721 are urging Congress to impose a federal income tax on certain revenues from sales of community-owned electric utilities; and WHEREAS, community-owned utilities such as the City of Martinsville Electric Department, as units of state and local government operating on a not-for-profit basis, are not and should not be taxed by the federal government; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, in regular session assembled July 13, 1999, that it does hereby call on Senator Charles S. Robb, Senator John W. Wamer and Representative Virgil H. Goode, Jr. to support the bipartisan Bond Fairness and Protection Act of 1999, and 16 vigorously oppose any federal tax on community-owned electric utilities; and said Council requests that certified copies of this Resolution be forwarded to Senators Robb and Wamer and Representative Goode.