Past Town Reports
Templeton Annual Town Report of 1998, on page 30, the report of the commissioners of Templeton Municipal Light plant states "municipal utilities are community owned and operated and state laws & regulations governing utilities have always given local officials the control over most utility affairs."
Page 32, statement of cash flows: For the purpose of the statement of cash flow, the light dept. considers only unrestricted cash on deposit with the town treasurer as cash & cash equivalents.
Taxes: The department is exempt from income taxes and property taxes but pays amounts in lieu of taxes to the Town of Templeton. So why fight so hard against an agreement? Why be so against the term PILOT or payment in lieu of taxes?
The more you look, read and hear, the more you see how much the Templeton Municipal Light and Water Plant is tied to the Town of Templeton so why would the commissioners fight so hard to keep say a water dept. budget out of the hands of town meeting yet complain that town bond rating or lack there of is affecting their (water dept.) borrowing power?
Supposedly, from May 2011 to July 2014, Templeton Light has received $501,676.00 back from Brodie Mountain thru wind renewable energy credits and all of this "cash" has been put back into power supply costs as credit against the project's capacity costs. I read that as no real money has changed hands and as capacity costs go up, those credits are worth less and less which is kind of like buying stock and rather than paying a dividend to the stock holders, the company just issues you a few more shares of stock and either the stock price goes down or the costs to manger your port folio goes up, meanwhile you are on food stamps. Take those wind credits in the form of cash and use the funds to pay Town of Templeton a PILOT in the form of $165,000.00 per year and thank you very much for your support!
Jeffrey Bennett
