While we’re on the subject, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines didn’t say anything over the weekend to reassure citizens that’s he’s in the loop.

Surprise, the city’s considering an oversight panel to keep the utility commission’s shady Stokes County land deal from happening again.

Then there’s the question of whether or not Hugh Wright should even be utility commission chairman, considering the fact that his term expired in June. When asked why the deadline to either reappoint Wright or appoint another commssioner was allowed to lapse, Joines responded:

“It just didn’t come up on our radar, I guess.”

Now check out the money quote from Wright after the Journal follows the money trail:

To buy the 434 acres, the commission drew $2.3 million from its solid-waste fund. A few years ago, it took $6.7 million from its water-sewer fund to buy land for the industrial site where Dell Inc. now has a manufacturing plant.

It has plenty of money. The commission’s water-sewer enterprise fund had cash and cash equivalents of $112 million, according to the city’s 2005 financial statement. The commission’s solid-waste enterprise fund, which comes mostly from landfill charges, had $30.5 million.

When asked last week why some of that money couldn’t be used to cushion the financial hit that some newly annexed property owners will pay in sewer assessments, Wright said, “Do you want me to raise your rates?”

Raise rates? Lord no, please don’t do that!