EVANSVILLE — The Vanderburgh County Commission voted Tuesday morning to unanimously to pass a resolution urging the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to pause, delay or deny further utility rate increases that impact local residents.
Resolution R-04-26-011 passed 3-0 at Tuesday’s meeting. All members of the commission were present. The language matches a resolution passed Monday by the Evansville City Council.
The resolution comes less than a week after the IURC held a listening session in Evansville amid a rare inquiry into high utility bills facing Hoosiers around the state. It also comes as CenterPoint representatives told the Courier & Press last week it will file a natural gas rate case later this year.
All three members of the county commission attended the IURC listening session last week, with Mike Goebel testifying to the IURC.
Goebel told the IURC with the development of I-69 and the new river crossing, the community is hoping business development and new residents come too. But people have avoided coming to the area, he said. The big reason? Energy costs.
“We have to do something to lower the costs,” Goebel said.
Goebel said he doesn’t know how families survive trying to pay CenterPoint costs, make their mortgage or rent payment, while also putting food on the table and shoes on their kids feet.
“This is so much of their, I don’t think it’s disposable income, but mandated income,” he said. “They can’t afford it. We’re knocking people out to the streets in some cases for that.”
Goebel also asked that state officials look into the sales tax exemption as mentioned by Rep. Alex Burton.
Burton had urged the IURC to explore a rate increase moratorium and consider an annual one to two month sales tax exemption during the listening session.
The sales tax is just increasing the coffers for the Statehouse, and doing nothing locally, Goebel said.
“My gut feeling is it’s a regressive tax. You don’t tax food,” Goebel said. “Having a place that provides heat in the wintertime, in these cold winters, that’s not a luxury. That’s a necessity. Having a place to go and have protection from our very hot summers, that’s a necessity as well.”
The resolution will be submitted to the IURC as formal testimony, with copies sent to Vanderburgh County legislators at the Indiana General Assembly and Gov. Mike Braun.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Vanderburgh County Commission asks IURC to halt utility rate increases
Reporting by Sarah Loesch, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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