Full Text
MAYOR’S MESSAGE June 2014 Murray City is a very unique city and its residents take great pride in that. We are viewed by other cities as an independent city having our own water, sewer and power services as well as our own fire and police departments. We have excellent parks and recreation programs, our own library, golf course and senior center. Murray is the only city in the state that has a platform-to-platform Trax/FrontRunner station. We are fortunate to have wonderful businesses that provide employment opportunities for many and enhance the lives of our residents with their services. Last Thursday night, June 5, the citizens of our community were given the opportunity to ask questions and give input concerning the potential public/private partnership with Macquarie Capital and UTOPIA. Over 300 of our citizens attended and provided insightful questions and thoughtful input. Although there were varied perspectives, everyone was treated with respect. We have also received many emails and phone responses in the office from concerned citizens and business owners about this issue. This has been an information gathering process and I value the time and commitment from you the citizens and business owners. I understand, after hearing the questions and comments, there are various points of view. With our past history of providing a wide array of services for our residents, it makes the decision of finding a solution for UTOPIA’s future of even more importance as we move to the due date of June 27 concerning this proposed partnership. The biggest and probably most divisive concern is how the utility fee will impact residents and businesses. The cities entering into the partnership with Macquarie, will commit to imposing a utility fee (whether services are used or not) of $18-$20 per household, $36- $40 for a business and $9-$10 for each apartment. The fee would most likely increase annually depending on the fluctuation of the consumer price index (CPI) or some other agreed upon measure. The utility fee will be assessed for a 30-year period. In exchange for the utility fee, each resident/business/apartment will receive a basic internet service (three megabits up/down with a 20 gigabyte cap) provided by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) of choice. On the other hand, there would not be additional connection fees, but there could be additional fees for upgrading the service. The utility fee is necessary to cover the cost of completing the network build-out and system refreshing in all participating cities, but will not be used to pay down any existing bond debt. The elected officials and department heads of the city have spent hundreds of hours in research and discussion in order to make the most informed decision and represent the majority of Murray residents and businesses as best they can. The City Council has scheduled a special meeting on June 24 at 6:30 p.m. to vote on moving forward or exiting with the Macquarie proposal. An agenda for the meeting can be found on Murray’s website: murray.utah.gov as the date gets closer. If you want to give input, a survey is available at murray.utah.gov/residentsurvey. ---PAGE BREAK--- I feel a great deal of gratitude to live in such a great community where the citizens are concerned about what happens to their city. It is a privilege to represent you. Thank you for your commitment of making “Murray a City Without Equal.” Sincerely, Ted Eyre, Mayor