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March 29, 2024 4:59 am
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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK: Telling The Story ‘Like It Really Is’…..Again!

By Vernon Robison

First off, I will start by citing a letter which I received last week by email from a Progress reader:

Dear Vernon,

When are you going to start reporting on the excesses of the power district? It is common knowledge that they are in deep financial trouble. I think it is your responsibility to report these things to us before we have a dilemma on our hands that will cost us a lot of money we don’t have. When are you going to tell the story of Overton Power like it really is? We need people like you to tell the truth. It is your job.

-Name withheld

As always, I appreciated receiving this feedback from a reader. This was actually not an isolated issue. In fact this letter was just the last in a short string of similar letters, most of them anonymous, that I have received in recent weeks. Since it seems to be a common concern among a segment of our readership, I felt I should make this an open reply addressing this issue for all to read.

I have been covering the Overton Power District (OPD) in the Progress for the past seven years now. During that time I have attended nearly every OPD Board meeting. Usually I have been the ONLY member of the public in attendance and the only media outlet to regularly cover these meetings.

I have, of course, covered the most recent, and most controversial, OPD rate increase in great detail with no less than four different stories carried over four separate weeks (see Progress editions of 8/22/12, 9/5/12, 9/19/12 and 9/26/12). Because this action was such a high profile event, and quite recent, most folks no doubt remember it.

But readers might be less likely to remember when I wrote in depth coverage to a previous OPD rate increase back in 2011 (see Progress editions 8/24/11 & 9/28/2011). Then again, there was an even earlier 2009 rate increase which I also covered in depth (see Progress editions 3/4/2009 & 3/25/2009).

Of course, these rate increases didn’t happen suddenly or in a vacuum. Back in 2008, as the economy slowed, and the real estate crisis deepened, I reported discussions at board meetings concerning the toll that the slowdown was taking on the district’s bottom line. In March that year (3/26/08) I reported on staff’s concerns that the OPD had been forced to begin dipping into cash reserves because revenues from growth in the area had halted. In May of that same year (5/28/08), I wrote about an OPD Board decision to restructure its debt in an attempt to prevent an impending rate increase.

Of course, the Progress’ coverage hasn’t been restricted only to the financials. I have covered the reorganization of the OPD board by the State Legislature in 2009. I’ve covered the elections for contested board seats at the OPD in 2008 and 2010 (there were no contested seats in 2012). I have covered decisions about energy contracts, decisions about personnel, discussion on development of infrastructure, discussions about the feasibility of using renewable energy and much more. I’ve reviewed financial statements. I’ve been present for all the independent audit reports. The fact is, I’ve written tens of thousands of words, devoted a significant amount of print space in the newspaper, and expended a ponderous quantity of my time to cover all of this in detail for my readers.

During all of this time, I have often wondered whether anyone was listening. After all, the business of a power utility is tremendously complex. The 2-3 hour OPD board meetings which take place each month are really not very entertaining. I certainly don’t choose to attend them because I have nothing better to do. They are difficult meetings to enjoy.

So I have long suspected that the majority of my readership is probably not that interested. Face it, for most of us, we just care whether the lights go on when we flip the switch. If so, we generally don’t want to be bothered with all the complexities behind it. So I have long operated with the understanding that these articles are quite possibly the least-read items in the newspaper.

Nevertheless I have still endeavored to write and publish them. Why? Because I believe that it is my job to keep my readers informed on the actions of the OPD. Even if no one reads it at all, it is important to hold the board and management at OPD accountable for their statements and actions by putting them on record for all to see. That’s why I’ve gone to the trouble for all these years.

Given all of this, it is puzzling to me to read criticisms like the above published letter. When I see questions like this reader poses, I have to wonder, “Where have you been all this time? I don’t think that you have been paying attention!”

The truth is, most of these folks don’t want ‘the real story’. They prefer a scandal. Last fall, the latest rate increase caught the eyes of a few people who hadn’t followed the full context of the story and who didn’t bother to do enough research into the matter. Instead this small group worked themselves into an ill-informed frenzy, and began casting unfounded accusations of corruption at the OPD board and staff. Casting blame is a much easier path than doing the work it takes to understand the issues. It’s much simpler to join the crowd, light the torches, carry the pitchforks and go on the hunt.

But now, amidst all the self-created pandemonium of their own hysteria, these folks are pointing their fingers at me and asking why I have not lit my torch, hefted my pitchfork and joined them in this shameful fray. Some have even questioned my integrity, suspiciously asking why I haven’t covered ‘the real story’.

Well, since they are asking; OK! Let’s talk about the real story…once again.

First off, are their significant financial challenges at OPD? Yes. Just like every other governmental or quasi-governmental agency in this State, the OPD faces some pretty major financial hurdles. But the board has been aware of these challenges all along and have taken actions to get through them. Unfortunately, rate increases have had to be part of those actions.

I might mention here that The Progress has covered this several times over the years. But let’s move on.

Have there been mistakes made at OPD? Yes. The main cause for rate increases is debt. Back in the early 2000’s the board and staff made some hasty and unfortunate decisions on some long-term power contracts. This laid the foundation of the debt that we are all paying today. These mis-steps were made by an entirely different board and management than those who are running things now. Even so, what has been done is done! No amount of hand wringing and finger pointing about it is going to change it. The debt has to be paid. I have watched the OPD board and management work hard to find the least painful way for the ratepayers to swallow that pill. But it’s still a pill to be swallowed.

By the way, I have also covered this issue in past editions of the Progress.

The other major portion of OPD debt was taken on later during the height of the growth boom. Back then, the City of Mesquite was screaming that the OPD wasn’t expanding fast enough to accomodate the planned growth. So the district took on debt to build the infrastructure. Now the infrastructure is built but the growth hasn’t come. So, like it or not (and I for one do not) the few of us ratepayers who are left here have to shoulder that burden.

Should the district have delayed in growing its infrastructure? Should the board have somehow been able to divine the future and told all those screaming voices to just chill out and wait? Maybe so. But I don’t think that would have gone well for them. Besides I don’t know how anyone could have accurately predicted our current state of affairs back in the height of the boom.

In any case, I’ll say it again, I’ve covered all of this in past editions of the Progress.

Are the salaries too high at OPD? In my opinion, given the current reality, they are. But remember, these salaries were set under a different set of circumstances near the height of the boom. And there has long been a plan in place to adjust the OPD payroll downward.

Rather than impose a massive layoff which would have brought yet another impact to the local economy, the board decided to encourage the retirement of its most senior staff without hiring replacements at the lower end. That strategy is underway and is set to take place over the coming months. This will accomplish the same thing as a big layoff would have done; without the sudden shock to the economy. I think it was a reasonable and responsible course.

But even if the district had slashed its workforce in the extreme, and dealt a heavy blow to the communities; it still wouldn’t have made a big enough dent in the budget to avoid the recent rate increases. The payroll is a relatively small portion of the OPD budget. It’s the debt that’s the problem and there’s no wriggling out of it.

And, I know this is getting tiresome, but I have to point out again that we’ve covered this, too, in past editions of the Progress.

What about the recent downgrades in the OPD credit rating by Moody’s and Fitch? Isn’t that scandalous?!

Well, these have indeed been unfortunate. But the only effective way the board could have avoided those downgrades is to raise rates even more. Nothing less, given this environment, would have brought the district into line with its debt ratios. Instead of quickly raising rates, the board chose to delay a rate increase and hope for signs of growth in the economy. Unfortunately, the growth didn’t come. The district shaved it too close on its key ratios and got downgraded. The bright side is, the OPD won’t be in the market any time soon for new financing. The district’s infrastructure is already over-developed as it is. We are well prepared for growth should it return. So the downgraded OPD credit rating is not that important right now anyway.

In this instance, the board chose to put its ratepayers before its credit rating to keep rates low. In my opinion as a ratepayer, that was a wise decision.

By the way, I’ve already covered all this, too, in the Progress.

And what about all the accusations of corruption among the board and the OPD staff? Well me being a reporter, this is just the type of thing that I’ve been looking for over the past seven years. I’ve watched like a hawk for any signs of mismanagement, fraud or corruption. But before an honest person can make such allegations, he should have the proof to back it up. And in all of my watching I’ve never found any evidence or indication of wrongdoing at OPD. Instead I’ve seen only decent, honorable people working together to render an essential service to the community.

Of course, the Progress has covered all of this before too.

So now I’ve told ‘the real story’….again….at least as far as I see it. I’ve made it as plain and simple as I know how. I hope that this, once again, fulfills my responsibility to my readers.

As I close this overlong column, I think that the substance of that responsibility bears repeating here once again. I am, and have always been, committed to provide unbiased coverage to my readers in an objective and even-keeled way.

My goal in reporting the news is not to take a position one way or the other. Rather it is to equip my readers with the facts so that they can make their own judgments on the issues. If folks are generally satisfied with the OPD then at least they know about it. If they are not, then they can file to run for a board seat in the next election and work to make changes. That type of an informed public has always been my ideal and my goal.

So if you want to know ‘the real story’; if you want to know the real reasons why the OPD board makes the decisions it does; then the Progress will be reporting them each month, as we have always done. And whether you read it or not, the plain and objective facts, insofar as they are known, will be here.

If, however, you prefer to be manipulated with ill-informed coverage filled with baseless accusations, gross inaccuracies and emotionally biased insults; well, you’ll have to find that somewhere else.

Thanks for reading, and commenting on, The Progress!

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