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Months ago the people of Marco Island overwhelmingly voted to move forward and put the politics of disinformation, personal attacks and conspiracy theories behind us. But, at least one part-time resident did not get the message. Once again Mr. Butch Neylon resorts to scare tactics on the issue of municipalization of the electric system. His most recent commentary in our local papers is misleading and wrong and needs correction. Let me be specific.

First, his personal attack on me is as foolish now as his past attacks I have no – repeat no – opinion whether the city should take over the electric system. I do, however, believe that the facts associated with such a move be evaluated. I have also recommended that a public committee develop options other than takeover if there are significant money savings. Most of us rely on facts before taking a position. Not Mr. Neylon.

He states that I am “leading” this effort to take over LCEC. Nonsense. I have 44 years of electric utility experience and have limited my involvement to simply providing comments and suggestions to our city. I also believe a fact-finding review makes sense. The truth is that no one now knows whether there are savings, whether Islanders are unfairly paying higher rates than they should to subsidize electric services elsewhere, and whether there are economic possibilities warranting further inquiry. I have no leadership aspirations. I am not a member of the ad hoc public committee.

He states that LCEC “has held the line on electric rates” and “returns equity checks” to us. The truth is that LCEC has raised the cost of electricity by 39 percent in the past four years and has withheld all equity distributions the past two years. LCEC acknowledges that much of this increase is a result of major growth investment off Marco Island. Two major price increases took place on July 1, and Sept. 1, with expectations of further increases. Islanders deserve to know whether these increases were justified for us and whether our costs can be reduced.

He states that LCEC spends “11 percent on operation and maintenance and 9 percent on depreciation and taxes.” Those are average numbers. LCEC itself agrees that it does not know the costs to serve Marco Island. This is a prime task for the public committee. Let’s get the facts.

He states that if we took over the system we could have major problems with “bulk power purchases.” It is probable that, like LCEC, we could contract with Florida Power and Light or others for our bulk power needs. Again, this is a major task for the public committee to evaluate.

He implies that takeover would place us in a very vulnerable position with major storms. He is apparently not aware of the fact that the 34 municipalities in Florida that own electric systems have an effective mutual assistance program to help in emergencies and local utilities such as FPL and LCEC would be contracted for emergency support. Again, a committee task to evaluate.

I agree with Mr. Neylon that LCEC has been is a good performing utility. That’s not the issue. Our community spends some $38 million per year on electricity, more than we spend on city property taxes, water and sewer, combined. In addition, electricity is about 25 percent of the operating costs of our water costs. These are reasons to look into the matter and see if there are any opportunities to reduce these costs. Thirty-seven other communities have pursued the facts. Why shouldn’t we?

Is a takeover of the electric system warranted? I don’t know, but I would really like to have the facts before I can make an informed judgment. I also know that unless takeover is left on the table as a possibility we will have no leverage to negotiate lower rates or other benefits from LCEC.

Butch Neylon is the same person who made false allegations against me and others ... allegations that were thrown out by state officials as being “politically motivated.” He is the same person whose tactics were soundly rejected by our community in January. He hasn’t learned how our community rates people and how they evaluate credibility. He is asking that our city simply “disband” public input and end fact finding before making a decision. He is a member of the city’s public committee and should return to Marco and help do something positive, something constructive.