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| BPUB CEO John Bruciak |
Judge for yourselves if John Bruciak should be considered to be in that category with his performance in the role of General Manager/CEO of the Brownsville Public, yes public!, Utilities Board.
Seven years ago Bruciak persuaded the City Commission to approve a 7% utility raise 4/1/2013, followed by another 7% raise 10/1/2013, yet another 7% raise 10/1/2014 and an 8% raise 10/1/2015. The percentages compounded easily exceed 40%.
The purpose of the rate increase was said to be the purchase of 200 megawatts or 25% of an 800 megawatt power plant from the Tenaska Corporation to be named the Tenaska Brownsville Generating Plant.
The deal negotiated by Bruciak was lopsidedly in favor of the Tenaska Corporation with Brownsville's Public Utility paying $345 million or 65% of the total cost of a $500 million power plant, but receiving only 25% of the power. Almost comically, Brownsville would also be responsible for selling the other 600 watts of produced power.
The rate increases would be used to pay off 20 year bonds to fund the plant.
Construction on the plant was said to start in 2014 with construction completed by 2016. 600-700 temporary jobs for locals were also promised with "23 permanent well-paying jobs."
None of that transpired as the Tenaska Brownsville Generating Plant was never built.
Yet, all the rate increases above were collected and remain in effect.
When ratepayers cried foul and demanded a return of the overcharges, Bruciak remained silent.
Public information requests received no response with Bruciak's lawyers convincing the Texas Attorney General that accounting for the money ratepayers had spent on a plant never built would uncover "proprietary information."
Yes, the original request for a rate increase did mention constructing the power plant and other infrastructure, but the thrust of the increase was for a power plant never built.
In 2019 all three mayoral candidates promised that, if elected, they would find out exactly how the rate increases were utilized and how much was actually raised.
That promise remains unfulfilled.
John Bruciak has proven himself to be an arrogant asshole, but also dishonest.
A new asshole angle to repackage the same Tenaska story written by you too many times. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
ReplyDeleteThe issue is unresolved and the story ongoing. Brownsville's rate payers have been lied to and want their money back. As a troll from McAllen, you don't understand this and never will.
DeleteI'm with Bruciak. He knows how and which way the wind blows in Brownsville. You do not.
ReplyDeleteYour fake comment is meaningless. You don't know Bruciak or Brownsville.
DeleteIgnore the comments Jim. They were written by one of Sofia's ignorant followers.
DeleteCoronavirus: Elizabeth Warren Has A Plan For Coronavirus - Defund Trump’s “Racist Wall”
ReplyDeleteThe Massachusetts senator and 2020 presidential hopeful thinks $10 billion would be better spent on public health and science than “a monument to hate and division” at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Another Tenaska story. Write something new. You’ve written nothing about Erasmo’s DWI, Sylvia Atkinson’s arrest, primary races, or anything newsworthy like endorsement. You’ve told us nothing about the candidates. Tenaska is old news, Jimmy.
ReplyDelete'Old news'???? What was done was ILLEGAL! Just because a theft occurred in the past does not mean it has now become irrelevant. Taxpayers are still paying these costs to this very day. As a taxpayer, I agree with Jim Barton that this issue needs to be resolved and ASAP. The phony story that the excess was to be 'invested' in improvements to public service has proven to be a LIE. THAT is criminal activity and should be prosecuted under the law. Bruciak's attorney's claim that accounting for rates paid would uncover 'proprietary information' is tantamount to saying that dark money deserves privacy and protection, neither of which are true! Clearly Bruciak is a well-moneyed, power-hungry grifter who doesn't mind stealing other people's hard-earned money!
ReplyDeleteThis could affect locals, Jim, and you're ignoring it:
ReplyDeleteHere’s what moronic Trump supporters just cannot get a grip on: Coronavirus has a mortality rate that is 20x that of seasonal influenza. If Coronavirus ends up spreading at the same rate as seasonal influenza, THAT'S what scares the crap out of the real professionals (and it should). Trump could not have picked a worse person then Vice-Prez Mike Pence to be the face of response coordination by the government, further proof that Trump is an imbecile and shouldn’t be allowed to manage a paper route, much less the US government.
"Jim.....you're ignoring it..."??? Is that a pivot? Or a deflection from the BPUB problem? If you really want to talk about the Covid-19 virus, start another blog. This blog is about the BPUB theft of taxpayer funds. Or connect the two. For example, Bruciak and his cronies could 'give back' a huge chunk of the taxpayers' stolen funds by investing heavily in resources to control and treat Covid-19 as well as the myriad other health issues citizens of Brownsville face on a daily basis. Our clinics and hospitals are already overburdened and patients are being forced to wait long periods of time to be seen. In addition, diagnostic services are stretched beyond their capacity, increasing wait times further. The entire healthcare system is outrageously overpriced on top of everything else. Overall,the healthcare system in Brownsville is overly expensive AND extremely sub par, making it a huge failure and an insult to decent hardworking people. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Use the stolen BPUB taxpayer funds to do something helpful for the citizens of Brownsville instead of making the morbidly wealthy even wealthier still (at the expense of the rest of us)!
ReplyDelete