Friday’s print edition of the Smithfield Herald included these statements in the A-section:
Page 3A: On Tuesday, Town Manager Pete Connet briefed the Town Council on a proposal to raise [electric] rates in January to recoup a 10-percent increase in wholesale costs. This past June, the town raised rates by 5.5 percent.
Page 8A: A newsletter from the Johnston County schools might soon arrive in your power bill. … Under the proposal, the school system would supply the content, and the town would split the cost of producing the 5,000 or so copies every month. …
I’m not sure if this is a marketing coup — your power bill is going up so we’ll sweeten it with some unrelated good news from the school district — or a marketing blunder — i.e., we’re about to raise your household energy costs, and by the way, here’s a newsletter to remind you about how your property tax dollars (recently boosted as well) are being utilized. Have a nice day, y’all.
Of course, one is fee for services utilized while the other isn’t, so maybe there’s no connecting the two other than the shared envelope and postage. FWIW the utilities director “wasn’t thrilled with the idea”, having his own stuff to mail out already.
