City Council limits PUC's corporate donations
Wednesday, March 06, 2013 by: Darren Taylor
City Council took recommended action at its regular meeting Monday and amended its shareholder agreement with the PUC to limit the utilities's corporate donations.
Single donations from the PUC will now not exceed $10,000, and donations will no longer exceed $50,000 in any single year.
A PUC donation of $100,000 to Algoma University raised many eyebrows in the community last year.
The City's legal department stated that donation was not a conflict of interest, but some questioned if that amount was a good use of City money, as the City of Sault Ste. Marie is PUC Inc.'s sole shareholder.
The PUC was restructured as a corporation in 2000.
Council and the PUC also agreed that PUC meetings be held in public, and that the public is notified in advance of those meetings, as well as minutes of PUC meetings made available for public perusal.
Note: Comments that appear on the site are not the opinion of SooToday.com. Keep discussions civil and on topic. Refrain from obscenity and don't post anything that your grandmother would be ashamed to read. Those who do not abide by these guidelines will have their membership revoked without notice. If you see an abusive post, please click the link beside the post to report it.
Beej 3/6/2013 6:14:57 PM Report$100,000 would have went a LONG ways in helping the Soup kitchen, Women in crisis, St. Vincents and a few other places where it was badly needed and would have been appreciated 100X more than where it ended up.
SammH 3/6/2013 6:58:27 PM ReportNot that I disagree with you Beej, but I also think it would have gone a long way to fix the "aging infrastructure" that PUC is always blaming when customers complain.
inferno 3/6/2013 7:23:06 PM Reporti thought the puc was a utility company. there should be a public encompassing all customers vote on this issue.
blackspruce 3/6/2013 7:26:06 PM Reportat least they donated locally instead of to some foreign place
oakie 3/6/2013 7:26:43 PM ReportWhy is it necessary for the PUC to be involved in the donation business. Stick to managing our infrastructure that is deteriorating and pay for that building you just built. Let someone else,
that has the money to burn, make donations.
Grace 3/6/2013 7:51:39 PM ReportI received this in an email Tuesday from the SSMRA on the new agreement with the PUC
Thought I'd share this with you all.
2013 03 04
Mayor Amaroso and Members of Councilors
Re: Report on the New Agreement Between the City of Sault Ste Marie and PUC INC
We wish to covey or appreciation for the response to the question’s concerning the agreements between The Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie and PUC Inc.
Please convey our thanks to the legal department on our behalf for a job well done in regards to the new agreement.
. The agreement is more comprehensive and answers both the fact of transparency and accountability;
. There will be open board meetings to the public to view;
. The minutes being made available to the clerk's office for shareholders to review;
. An upper limit on donations;
.Yearly reviews of the agreement.
These are all positive steps that will include and benefit both the ratepayers as shareholder and PUC Inc in a better and productive relationship in the future.
Yours truly,
SSMRA Procedural Group
AceOfBass 3/6/2013 7:57:21 PM ReportThe PUC donations did not come from the taxpayers if came revenue.Why must we feel we need to micromanage this utility?
Well if wynne has her way they make it part of OH and you will not be able to bitch,
Buddy_Bob 3/6/2013 8:34:58 PM Report I can't help but feel if there's extra money left over to hand out,Then we've all been over billed, and rebates are in order.But it truely should be going on improving the infrastructure and reliability of our utility services....You'd think a percentage of our bill includes that.because it'll only cost us more to do it in the future.....and will be an excuse to raise our bills.or our childrens and generations to come.All I'm saying is if $50,000.00 buys 50 feet of water lines or 2 transfirmers....that's where it should be going....No?
anapeg 3/6/2013 8:41:57 PM Report Kind of like locking the barn door after the horse has run off.
moem 3/6/2013 8:48:57 PM ReportAnd where does the revenue come from aceofbase? From the people who continually pay higher rates for lousy service, broken water mains and water that tastes and smells bad!!
Sam C 3/6/2013 9:26:33 PM ReportPUC revenue is NOT "City money." While the City is the sole shareholder, the money it receives is in the form of dividends, as is that case for any shareholder arrangement.
If you hold shares in a corporation -- a Utility company, or GM, or MicroSoft, or whatever -- their revenue is not "your money." They can earn revenue and make expenditures as they see fit.
As for having a public vote, we already have: we elect a City Council to make decisions on our behalf,. If the City is the sole shareholder, it is Council's role to attend shareholder meetings and speak on our behalf, and hold votes -- among itself -- on any major decisions.
Again, just because you own shares in a corporation doesn't mean you get to vote on every decision it makes.
Council has acted appropriately, in this case, and to my mind has conveyed the public's feeling on the situation adequately.
tWISTED lOGIC 3/6/2013 11:33:47 PM ReportThe PUC should not be making donations to anything. The PUC should be using their revenues for the operation and upkeep of public utilities and that's it. If they have a surplus, either bank it or give back to customers.
en4cer81 3/7/2013 12:24:05 AM ReportSo people in the Sault would rather save a couple of bucks on their utility bill instead of investing in educating our children and community for the future. Wow!
crashed13 3/7/2013 8:38:06 AM Report@en4cer81
They donated to Algoma U but a person over there stold it and more anyways.
j.r.98 3/7/2013 8:44:16 AM ReportIf the city's plan is to cap the donation limit, why not tell them where they can donate the monies to. Sault Ste. Marie is the sole shareholder? Did this go to a meeting before money was donated? Did council know of this donation at the time? There are many, many people in need in this city. I think that there are too many hands out and that the PUC should be upgrading the utilities instead of giving such large donations and building the new structure on Second Line. After all, the bill for these and other such projects will indeed be funded by the city since they are the sole shareholder. We need to voice our opinion as a ratepayer. My PUC bill has risen by more than 50% over the past 23 years. I realize rates are on the rise , just wish my income would increase at the same rate!
razor25 3/7/2013 9:23:50 AM ReportI definitely think this is a step in the right direction. The PUC has confirmed that in the next few years, our water bills will more than double. This is due to the fact that they are upgrading the vast majority of the water piping infrastructure in the city. Ok, so I can't comment on the imminent need to replace this infrastructure since I'm no expert, but assuming they are correct why would you ever go about donating large sums of money when you've just admitted your need to double our bills to raise the necessary money for your projects? I'm not a CEO of a big corporation but even I can see the bad optics of that move (not to mention the inherent unfairness to the customers).
Grace 3/7/2013 9:53:57 AM ReportToo bad you missed the meeting last week with the PUC board and the ratepayers.
Would have answered a lot of your questions.
Grace 3/7/2013 9:56:00 AM ReportJust wondering..what do you all think of the possible forced merger with Hydro one?
en4cer81 3/7/2013 3:19:22 PM Report@crashed13
You never made it past high school, did you?
Note: Comments that appear on the site are not the opinion of SooToday.com. Keep discussions civil and on topic. Refrain from obscenity and don't post anything that your grandmother would be ashamed to read. Those who do not abide by these guidelines will have their membership revoked without notice. If you see an abusive post, please click the link beside the post to report it.
