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Thursday: Econ 101
posted at 2007-12-20 23:57 | Last modified 2007-12-21 13:38
In his address to the Drought Management Advisory Council today, Governor Mike Easley urged the state’s water systems to consider switching over to “conservation pricing” or tiered rates. You can hear the whole speech here. (NB - it's a big file.)
Under tiered rates, water costs more when you use more of it. Cary, where I live, is a great example. If you use less than average, your water’s pretty cheap – maybe 15 bucks a month plus a flat meter charge. If you use an average amount, you’ll pay an extra 2-3 buck surcharge on top of the rate. But for profligate wastrels, the price per gallon triples after a certain point – ten-something per unit, as opposed to three-something. Sooner or later, unless you’re really rich, you’re gonna notice that.
(In my opinion, as someone who's a long way from rich and who's actively trying to conserve water wherever possible, I really like the idea that my neighbor who blows through scores of gallons handwashing his gleaming cars every weekend is paying a little extra for that privilege. It just seems, I don’t know...fair. )
Tiered pricing’s been working for cellular companies for years. Sure,
some folks can afford to run overages all the time, but most of us are
pretty attentive to how many minutes we’re using because we know they
get a lot more expensive when we run out. That’s the point of tiered
water rates, too – even though they’re a lot less onerous than mobile
overage charges, they still help focus consumer attention on using
less.
As always, there's another side to it. Officials with systems that
don't use tiered rates say it would make their rate structures too
complex. It would require more frequent meter reading. And, if the
rates aren't carefully set, there's always the chance low-income
families could be hurt.
But tiers are commonly used in Western states where water's often scarce. And they seem to be working out pretty well here in NC for systems where they're already in use. (Here's a list.) Even some water-using businesses are backing the idea. The N&O’s Matt Dees has more here.
What price best wishes?
There’s never been such a hubbub over that cardboard-and-glitter confection familiar to all of us as the “Christmas card.” According to the AP’s Gary Robertson, the state Ethics Commission says they’re gifts, which are covered by the 2006 ethics reforms:
“Staff at the state Ethics Commission have told lobbyists they can't send season's greetings to any of more than 4,000 people covered by the law in most cases. That includes Gov. Mike Easley, judges, state lawmakers, cabinet-level officials and appointees to commissions and boards.
“The ethics commission based its informal advice on the 2006 ethics changes and amendments this year that banned those persons from accepting nearly all gifts from lobbyists.”
Don’t be too quick to label Ethics Director Perry Newson a Grinch. As he told Robertson, "We're basically erring on the side of better safe than sorry…We have to follow the law, and that's the difficult part.”
But the ACLU doesn’t see it that way. State Director Jennifer Rudinger says the ban might be an unconstitutional restriction of free speech. The ACLU is considering legal action after the holidays.
All I can say is, if this case makes it to court, it’ll be the best Christmas present the Capitol Press Corps has seen in a long time.
Full disclosure: the barkeep gave out two Christmas cards this year to the hard-working, underappreciated folks who deal with media like me on behalf of Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight. By my calculations, that ought to net me a solid forty cents’ worth of influence in each office. (I promise not to spend it all on one story.)
Ticket: Takers?
The N&O’s Ben Niolet reports the NC Lottery’s second millionaire raffle has sold only about half of the available tickets – a big change from the first round, which sold out earlier this year. At this rate, what was supposed to be a surefire moneymaker for the lottery could end up in the red, though there’s still a week left in which that could turn around.
The silver lining? As Niolet points out, the odds just don’t get much better. So if you’re at all inclined to buy lottery tickets, this would be the time.
Thanks where due
Greensboro’s Mark Binker had a really nice post today about all us bloggers down at the Capitol. He glosses over the fact he was doing it first (props for that, sir) – but he does make a point of thanking a guy you might not know much about, Gary Robertson with the AP.
Gary’s in every morning before most of us. And a lot of nights, he’s the last to leave (unless I’m unusually slow). In between, he’s a news machine, cranking out reams of wire copy that, as Mark points out, gives the rest of us lone guns enough breathing room to blog.
Even with a workload like that, Gary gets it right 99.99% of the time – way better than most of us - and he does it all with kids and a (presumably very patient) wife at home, to boot. How? Personally, I suspect it’s partly because he doesn’t waste time griping about his job, which is an even rarer quality among reporters than his accuracy batting average.
Comments? Drop me a line.
