HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?

679. That is the multi-million dollar question isn’t it? Welcome all of you to today’s Blog. I know I said that the last Blog would be the final one of the year but I decided after reading the news today I had to get in one more.

THIS IS GOING TO PISS YOU OFF

680. Today is Friday Dec 20. My last Blog was on Tuesday Dec 17. The Tehran Telegram AKA The Superior Telegram publishes on Tuesdays and Fridays. On my Blog on Tuesday Dec 17, I spoke about the tax story. Since Tuesday the story has blown up everywhere, in fact I think this will be the story of the year in Superior. I was anxiously waiting to see how the Tehran Telerag was going to cover the story. And I was especially curious how #1 Fan Girl and Jim Paine sycophant “Cut and Paste” Shelley “The Hack” Nelson was going to report the story. She writes most of his stories and in my opinion, the worst local reporter I have ever encountered.

It would have been nice if she had done some real investigative reporting on all of those texts between Paine and Melissa Hyatt that I have posted on the Blog over the past year and a half. More on her and the fake news on a later Blog. Anyway, the first thing I did was go on their website. Nothing, not a thing about the tax increases. Then I thought well it should at least be the lead story in today’s paper. Here is the front page of today’s paper, Friday Dec 20:

681. You can imagine the horror I felt when the lead story was none other than Melissa Hyatt’s new venture. She got half the page. Yes THAT Melissa Hyatt. The diabolical Melissa Hyatt that is/was the Mayor’s co-conspirator and fountain of misinformation that led to closing of the Palace. Maybe Jimmy put in a good word for her to get her that spread. But I don’t care about her new venture. The real story here is that there is nothing in today’s paper about this tax scandal story. That is unbelievable. I went through the paper three times to make sure I didn’t miss something. Nope, no story. And you wonder why the media have about a 20% trust rating with the public?

FYI-Nothing in the Duluth Fake News Tribune either today.

Are you a little pissed off? Good because it gets worse. Here is another story that was also on the front page of today’s paper.

3% increase recommended for most city staff

By Shelley Nelson - Superior Telegram

SUPERIOR — The Human Resources Committee is recommending nonunion city wages increase by 3% in 2025.

After reviewing the impact of larger increases on the budget, councilors agreed Monday, Dec. 16, that even a 1 percentage point increase would have a more significant impact on the budget than originally anticipated.

Mayor Jim Paine’s 2025 budget recommendation included a 3% cost of living wage increase, in addition to step increases for length of tenure, for most city employees. Last month, the Human Resources Committee began contemplating a larger cost of living increase for the majority of city staff who are not members of a union.

“One of the reasons I wanted to see the difference was actually to see the numbers,” Councilor Mark Johnson said Monday. “The mayor said it’s about $100,000 for each percentage (point). It’s closer to $200,000 … and that’s nothing to shake our heads at here.”

According to calculations put together for the Human Resources Committee to consider, a 4% wage increase would have cost an additional $182,000, a 5% increase would have cost over $363,000; and a 6% increase would have cost over $545,000 more than the city budgeted for wages in 2025.

“The mayor talked about that being $100,000,” Finance Director Nick Rhinehart said. “That’s $100,000 to gross wages, but then you add … Social Security, Medicare, WRS (Wisconsin Retirement System) and those factors on top of that.”

Johnson said he felt his hands were tied because of the budget.

“It would be hard for me to vote for any change at this point,” he said.

Paine said councilors could, going forward, set the annual wage increase in an ordinance or establish a policy that would tie the nonunion wage increase to a certain number.

Paine encouraged the committee to work on that early in 2025 or to discuss when the council holds its priority-setting session before work on the budget begins.

While two wage-related proposals were included in the priorities session earlier this year, few councilors supported those measures. Councilor Nicholas Ledin supported a measure to increase city wages by 5%, and Councilor Jack Sweeney supported a measure to move the city’s wage plan from the 50th percentile to the 60th percentile.

“I thought 3% was more than fair for this year,” Sweeney said. However, he said there is more work to do to ensure that Superior’s wages and benefits are competitive.

The City Council will consider the 3% wage increase Jan. 7; if approved, it will retroactively go into effect Jan. 1.

Can you believe this? But look at the date. Monday Dec 16th. As they were mailing out the new tax bills, they were voting for raises. Am I the only one losing my mind here? Are you getting a little more pissed? Well there’s more. On page 6 there is this joyful story:

Regulators set Superior utility rate increases

 By Shelley Nelson - Superior Telegram

SUPERIOR — The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin issued its final order on proposed utility rate increases Thursday, Dec. 12.

After making reductions to Superior Water, Light and Power’s proposed revenues, customers are still going to pay more.

SWL&P proposed increasing revenues by about $7.3 million through increases of 2.2% for electricity, 17.1% for natural gas and 18% for water.

The final rates approved will allow the company to generate about $5.5 million in new revenue through a 1.4% increase in electric rates, 15.57% increase for natural gas and 10.85% increase for water.

According to the Public Service Commission’s final decision, reasonable increases in operating revenue included about $1.3 million for electricity, $3.1 million for natural gas and almost $1.1 million water services.

According to company officials, the new rates will affect customers based on their utility service schedule, rate, season and usage. The average residential customers of all three utilities — using about 500 kilowatt hours of electricity, 75 therms of natural gas and 600 cubic feet of water — will see a total increase of about $22 per month.

“These rate adjustments reflect the continued investments and upgrades to our systems, ensuring that customers receive the safe and reliable electricity, natural gas and water services they depend on,” SWL&P president Rob Sandstrom said in a statement.

Sandstrom encouraged customers who have difficulty paying their bill to call 715-394-2200 or 800-227-9757 to learn more about their options.

The new rates go into effect Jan. 1.

I’d like to commission a painting. It would be called “The Crying Taxpayer”. I have couple of friends that are artists. They draw unemployment. I lent out a few “Art” movies to a friend and never got them back. OK, no more art jokes. But should we spending money like this at this point in time?

Jim Paine is in over his head and has been from Day 1. In the past couple of years he has become more reckless and I don’t know of he can overcome this tax scandal. I don’t think he can hide behind the fake news this time. You now have other sources like here on the Blog, The Duluth Monitor, Soupnutz.net and on Facebook you can look at Dan Hanger’s page, Craig Sutherland’s and Angie Sapik’s. 

You can even look at the Mayor’s page. As of right now he has over 400 comments which is about double of any other article he has posted and the number is growing. About 90% of the comments are negative. He is in trouble and his responses aren’t helping, like blaming everybody but himself for this mess. I think it’s time for him and city council to consider a different job. It’s time to go.