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Citizens group want to spin off Lodi Electric Utility
A citizens group is trying to take the Lodi Electric Utility out of the city's hands and spin it off as a municipal utility district.
The group, led by former City Council candidate Jane Lea, announced plans today for a ballot initiative that would make the utility an independent publicly owned entity with an elected board of commissioners.
"Due to the mismanagement of the electric department, the citizens need some oversight," Lea said. "I want it to be its own separate entity."
She said she has talked with Sacramento Municipal Utility District about possibly taking over Lodi's utility.
Lea's group, which she described as a "loosely banded group of rebels," has had six meetings since December and is trying to have the initiative ready by the November 2008 election.
She said the group also wants to reduce the amount of money the city takes from the utility to 3 percent. The city recently reduced the utility's transfer from 12 percent to around 10 percent.
That 10 percent, or around $6.8 million, goes into the general fund, which covers to police, fire, parks and other services.
The utility has also taken other steps recently toward recovery from its financial hardships of two years ago. The utility established a reserve policy to make sure it has 45 days of operating reserves on hand, and has tried to fill its long term power needs to avoid risky open market speculation.
For more information, see Friday's News-Sentinel.
Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.
First published: Thursday, March 8, 2007

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