Dailey: An Apology? Not From Me.

On Friday, May 31, Madison Republican Candidate for Borough Council, Kathy Dailey, issued a statement in response to a prominent Madison Democrat's public statement that she "owed an apology" to the Finance Department for questioning its annual Budget Summary publication.

The statement was submitted to the local paper, the Madison Eagle, however, the Eagle will not print our statements or submissions.

For the past several years, the Borough of Madison has published an annual one-page Budget Summary and has inserted it as a glossy brochure within residents' electric bills. Each year this Budget Summary includes a section that compares Madison's taxes and services with several surrounding communities, and each year it inaccurately implies that Madison's municipal electric utility is a service that Madison residents receive that is "included in taxes."Any resident or business in Madison can tell you that our electric utility is most certainly not "included in taxes." If a Madison resident or business wants electric service, they are required to purchase it through the Madison electric utility.In fact, not only do Madisonians pay for our electricity, we actually overpay for it. The Borough Council intentionally sets our rates artificially high so that the electric utility can generate "surplus" utility funds. The Borough Council transfers these surpluses into non-utility operations and capital accounts, using electric profits to pay non-utility borough expenses.Additionally, the Budget Summary’s comparison table completely and conveniently “forgets” that Madison subsidizes its budget with its electric ratepayers’ overpayments! If this subsidy was included in the table as an additional tax, our cost per resident would increase by 50%, and Madison would move from lowest to second highest on a per capita basis.At the Borough Council's May 13 meeting, I brought this to the attention of the mayor and council, and I requested that the Borough consider a modification to its glossy brochure this year. I suggested that, in order to more accurately and honestly compare Madison's taxes and services, the Budget Summary’s comparison table should acknowledge that Madison's taxpayers and electric ratepayers actually pay for their own electricity.Imagine my surprise when, at the following council meeting on May 29, I was publicly called out to apologize for my request! Apologize? For what? For asking the Borough Council to represent our taxes and services accurately? On the contrary, I will continue to insist on accuracy and transparency.If anyone deserves an apology, it's the people of Madison, for having been misled by an inaccurate brochure that tells an incomplete story.