On Tuesday, several Lansing City Council members lobbied in front of the BWL Board of Commissioners. They want BWL to fork over an extra $1.5 million on top of Mayor Bernero's proposal.
Commissioners voted to go with the mayor's plan to increase the Return on Equity from 4% to 5%, as opposed to the 5 1/2% requested by council.
"Nothing else had been presented to us by anyone other than the 5% and we had felt that it was the most prudent situation that we could come up with at this point," said BWL Chair Sandra Zerkle.
Council President Brian Jeffries says they could not formally present their proposal until it was approved by council on Monday night. He claims the fight is not over, which is not surprising considering the council's budget amendments rely heavily on additional money from BWL.
"I think it's still open for negotiations and discussions. City council has not had a seat at the table and this is us exercising our rights to what we feel is a responsible and fair thing to do," said President Jeffries.
The council president also went on to say the following in front of the Board of Commissioners.
"My view on this is if we are given an agreement that council has to approve and it comes back less than 5 1/2 %, I'll be voting no."
President Jeffries insists that's not a threat and just something for the board to consider.
Zerkle says they're still open to sitting down with council for discussions. However, she maintains that their main goal is to take care of BWL customers and employees.
