The "Emergency" Ruse

George Kramer, Ashland Resident — November 11, 2025

In discussing the proposed amendment to the City Charter regarding utility fees, one trope is that should this become law it will somehow impact the City’s ability to respond to an emergency.

That is utter nonsense.

Utility fees do not create huge amounts of money. They are collected monthly, in small amounts, from every ratepayer. If the city was responding to an emergency it has aptly named “reserve funds” that it can draw for those purposes (if it hasn’t raided the reserve to pay for Cotta’s raises or cost-over runs on 2200 or something).

Collecting even $10/month from every Ashland ratepayer would yield around $90,000. Thirty days after they enacted the fee. If everyone paid it.

Yes, of course, they could borrow money and claim the dedicated fund to pay off the loan was from the new “We needed money” fee, imposed on ratepayers.

But wouldn’t it be easier to just use the reserves that any well managed city keeps for emergencies?

The Ashland City Council likes being able to extract funds from you without having to ask first. If you think we should have more of a say in new and increased fees and taxes that we have to pay, then help us get the charter amendment on the ballot in May, so the people can voice their opinions.

Read the short ballot measure and Q&A HERE. 

To sign the petition, go to ashlandcharter.info

This post first appeared on November 5, 2025 in the Facebook Ashland City Issues Group.

Reprinted with permission from the author.