Red, White and Food

This is something I don't get to vote on but I bring it up as a way of making constituents in the 23rd aware. The Tennessee Grocers lobby has launched an effort to allow grocery stores to sell wine. The campaign is known as Red, White and Food.

You have to admit it is pretty stupid to allow beer in grocery stores but not wine. I like to cook and many of my favorite dishes require wine. It would be nice to pick up that cheap white or red for the stew when I am getting the other ingredients. It has been my experience, that few grocery stores have the shelf space to offer the range and diversity of wines a store like West Meade Liquors or Nashville Wine and Spirits offer. So, I doubt much will change. The wine stores might reduce their offerings of lower priced offerings like Gallo and Turning Leaf and perhaps expand by offering new labels. Grocery stores will get to offer their customers a little saved time.

You may disagree but don't call me. Call your state legislator. The 23rd is represented by Rep Gary Odom, Rep Beth Harwell, Sen Doug Henry.

All You Want to Know About Capacity Fees

Today's Tennessean carrys a story about capacity fees that are hitting restaurants pretty hard. S-town Mike seems to also be a bit alarmed. Here's the synopsis of what is going on from the water budget egghead.

Capacity fees are not new. We have had sewer capacity fees since 1984. We have had water capacity fees since 2006. The sewer capacity fee from 1984 to 2006 was, I believe, $500. In 2006 we raised it to $2,000 and instituted a water capacity fee of $1000. A capacity fee does NOT go to operate or maintain the water and sewer system. It is a contribution to expansion of the capacity of the system.

The fee is based on water and sewer usage estimates according to state design standards. In other words, the state issues guidelines on how much water and sewer a typical house puts out, how much a typical restaurant puts out, etc as a way for cities to estimate how big their water and sewer treastment plants need to be. These guidelines are expressed as units of flow. A typical house is one unit of flow. A restaurant's units of flow will be variable depending on size so it is usually estimated based on number of seats. The bigger the restaurant, the bigger the units of flow and the more capacity the system must have.

We can pay for that increased capacity two ways. We can fold it into general rates and everyone pays a little bit. This makes some sense because we all benefit from a properly functioning water and sewer system. If we are unable to accomodate growth - whether it is a new subdivision or the conversion of a house into a restaurant, that would be bad for our tax base and bad for Nashville. The other way to do it is to only charge those that have an impact on capacity. We make the restaurant entrepeneur or the subdivsion developer pay into a fund to build additional lines, more pumping stations and larger treatment plants. This approach appeals to people who think those that have the biggest impact should pay. Both are valid ways to do it.

Metro Water, as I have told you before, has been under a great deal of budget pressure these past few years. They have been funding stormwater services without a dedicated revenue stream. They have had limited funds for extension, replacement and maintenance of the system. To avoid an overall general rate increase, the last two fiscal years saw the imposition of the "revenue enhancements." These revenue enhancements included such things as raising the late charge to $10 from 5%, revoking a bulk water discount for a few large users like Vanderbilt University, and imposing higher capacity fees.

Restaurants, because they tend to use a lot of water have been hit particularly hard by the capacity fees. Because restaurants also tend to be opened by small businessmen and women who don't have the capital of a large developer, the fee had had a detrimental impact. Hence the article in the paper this morning.

It is a political decision as to how we fix this problem. We need a stormwater user fee so we can stop putting unnecessary pressure on our water and sewer budget and we need an overall rate increase so we can properly fund a needed (and is some cases mandated) capital program. (There are no plans to take the head count back up into the thousands a la the mid 1990's.) When we make those changes, it will be time to see if we can alter the fee structure to accomodate the concerns of small restaurant owners.