Special to El Rrun-Rrun
The members of the Brownsville Public Utility Board voted to approve an agenda item during Monday's teleconference meeting that will suspend penalties for late payments and utility disconnects for the duration of the state's disaster declaration over the COVID-19 crisis.
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According to a Facebook post by Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez - an ex-oficio member of the board - the board also approved $2 million to the project SHARE fund which will be used to provide up to $200 per month toward residential utility payments to qualifying elderly, disabled and unemployed customers.
Details will follow, Mendez wrote, in a press release to be issued by the PUB administration Tuesday.
Mendz also said the PUB will also provide assistance to PUB ratepayers who have lost their jobs because of the CODIV-19 crisis.
The PUB discarded the idea of forgiving both commercial and residential utility bills retroactive to the time that businesses and individuals were negatively impacted by closures and lay-offs. Some said the utility should forgive the bills accrued by ratepayers for that period since hey have been paying artificially-high utility prices since 2013 when they were raised to pay for a $500 million gas-generated electric plant that has never been built.
PUB has received more than $100 million in cash from the increased rates from residential and commercial rate payers.
The PUB will announce details of how individuals can apply to qualify for the assistance and how the utility and the city will facilitate those target populations to apply since many do not have access to the Internet.
The board also approved th request by the PUB administration to suspend the applicability of the Public Information Act requirements to provide information requests from individuals and the public
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Mendez indicated that the agenda item had been approved by the board. Numerous sources have confirmed that federal investigators are probing how a $1.3 million payment to Noble Construction was rerouted to a different bank and account by the PUB Finance Dept. without the company's knowledge.
The PUB has not responded to city administration inquiries on the issue. If PUB is granted the suspension of the PIA, the utility may put off responding to inquiries on the subject - and any other subject - if the Texas Attorney General approved the suspension.
Both the utility and Tenaska, the private energy company that signed a Memorandum Of Understanding on the plant's construction, have objected to the release of the document to the public despite numerous requests.
The members of the Brownsville Public Utility Board voted to approve an agenda item during Monday's teleconference meeting that will suspend penalties for late payments and utility disconnects for the duration of the state's disaster declaration over the COVID-19 crisis.
According to a Facebook post by Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez - an ex-oficio member of the board - the board also approved $2 million to the project SHARE fund which will be used to provide up to $200 per month toward residential utility payments to qualifying elderly, disabled and unemployed customers.
Details will follow, Mendez wrote, in a press release to be issued by the PUB administration Tuesday.
Mendz also said the PUB will also provide assistance to PUB ratepayers who have lost their jobs because of the CODIV-19 crisis.
The PUB discarded the idea of forgiving both commercial and residential utility bills retroactive to the time that businesses and individuals were negatively impacted by closures and lay-offs. Some said the utility should forgive the bills accrued by ratepayers for that period since hey have been paying artificially-high utility prices since 2013 when they were raised to pay for a $500 million gas-generated electric plant that has never been built.
PUB has received more than $100 million in cash from the increased rates from residential and commercial rate payers.
The PUB will announce details of how individuals can apply to qualify for the assistance and how the utility and the city will facilitate those target populations to apply since many do not have access to the Internet.
The board also approved th request by the PUB administration to suspend the applicability of the Public Information Act requirements to provide information requests from individuals and the public
Mendez indicated that the agenda item had been approved by the board. Numerous sources have confirmed that federal investigators are probing how a $1.3 million payment to Noble Construction was rerouted to a different bank and account by the PUB Finance Dept. without the company's knowledge.
The PUB has not responded to city administration inquiries on the issue. If PUB is granted the suspension of the PIA, the utility may put off responding to inquiries on the subject - and any other subject - if the Texas Attorney General approved the suspension.
Both the utility and Tenaska, the private energy company that signed a Memorandum Of Understanding on the plant's construction, have objected to the release of the document to the public despite numerous requests.