DSL Reports, a terrific broadband resource and a constant source of news that I haven’t seen elsewhere, has this cautionary tale for those considering municipal broadband facilites; prepare for a dirty fight.
Karl Bode reports the push for municipal broadband in the Illinois cities of Geneva, St. Charles, and Batavia has gotten ugly.
Ed Hodges, is Chairman of a citizens group called ‘Fiber For Our Future‘ and the founder of the non-profit Tri-Cities Broadband group. What is it like going head to head with the big boys? Here’s the inside story.
BBR: Both SBC and Comcast have truly been firing their PR departments on all cylinders trying to convince area residents that the municipal idea isn’t a good one. What do you say in response to local ads run in the paper that paint the concept in a negative light?EH: I don’t mind them painting the concept in a negative light. What I do mind is Comcast and SBC using old school Chicago style politics to get the job done. Now, that’s just my opinion but I’ll give you a few examples so that others might make up their own mind. First, SBC and Comcast have both advertised that this project WILL result in higher taxes. They say it as a certainty… “If they don’t immediately sign up 1/3 of all businesses and households, they’ll have to increase your property taxes to pay the tab — $62 million worth of increases.”
The truth is that the utility will need to sign up 1/6th of just residences within a two year period to meet estimated interest payments on the General Obligation bonds that will be sold to investors. Those GO Bonds are the real funding source for the project… There are many more examples but the one that gets me the most is when they state that each and every household will see their property tax increase immediately by the staggering sum of $2,353.
The local city offices that calculate property tax for the three cities are still trying to figure out the math that was used to reach those figures… My home has a Tax Assessed value of $250,000. If this project is a complete disaster and all $62 million was spent at once with 0 chance of recovery, my property tax would go up $147.
If Portland, Oregon, develops some form of public utility to operate the old Enron fiber infrastructure in the city, Comcast and Qwest may fight just as dirty - and with little regard to the truth. Portland officials are also considering free wireless Internet access in the city’s core. So cellular carriers may bring out their big guns, too.
Pop Quiz: What’s the first casualty in this war?
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