Another Editorial From Goldman On Utility Reform

Paul Goldman has yet another Washington Post editorial that follows up on the long-running water utility reform campaign by neighborhood residents. In this one, he gets down to numbers and compares to food tax.

From editorial:

The food tax bill is now about $80 dollars a year for the average low-income family – and it’s still considered too high by such groups as the NAACP and Democratic liberals. We agree.

But in Richmond, the average poor family is paying $150 to $200 a year for regressive, non-existent taxes embedded within their utility bills.

City leaders, aware of these facts, refuse to take action.


Based on Richmond’s new budget, DPU will likely collect between about $30 million of such revenue. Of that, roughly $7 million will be fleeced from the poor.

And again, the real question is how will Council and Mayoral candidates acknowledge and confront this and other financial issues?

One thought on “Another Editorial From Goldman On Utility Reform

  1. The Richmond Green Party, the Sierra Club Falls of the James, and Better Government Richmond have all tried to take on this issue before.

    Better Government – Richmond produced this video in an attempt to explain the rate and PILOT fee issues to City residents. https://vimeo.com/64618134

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