[Winona] City to raise your energy tax 25%

[Paul Double]

It came to my attention this morning on the radio that the City of Winona council is scheduled for Monday night to raise taxes 25% on your utility bill.  One of the most played down taxes in the city is their option to force Xcel to add a 4 percent tax onto our bills.  Monday night they want to raise that to 5 %.  While it doesn’t sound like much the media should do their homework and release to the public the “total dollars” this important jewel generates to the city’s General Fund.  My guess the new money could be about $250,000 or one forth of the dollars they indicated they are short in the paper today.  If my number is off what is it?   While “the thought behind this tax is logical” as everyone including non profits and government entities will get tagged whereas property taxes only hit those who pay them.  It is one way for city taxpayers to also get some more state money from the University and College.  My point is this tax generates significant revenue and the number, like cable fees, is often not given the media attention it should get.  It cost the city nothing to administrate and is pure revenue.  If the city is unwilling to provide it Xcel has the numbers since they write the check back to the city.    As a side note, I believe, the City of Goodview has still not elected to charge the tax, which is a municipal option they also have available.  In light of the fact that they got a more dramatic hit on LGA than most it may be something they need to reconsider.  It could easily generate significant revenue for them and fall outside the formula of the property tax increase limits.   The ball is now in the court of the media, the numbers are public and people have the right to know where the make up funds are going to hit us.  We have had media coverage of the proposed reductions now we need to see the rest of the story.   Paul Double