TPA President David Williams: FCC Action Would Harm Local Taxpayers

TPA PRESIDENT DAVID WLLIAMS: FCC ACTION WOULD HARM LOCAL TAXPAYERS
Taxpayers Protection Alliance leader discusses the high-cost of government-owned broadband ahead of FCC decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) President David Williams released the following statement today in advance of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote whether to allow two government-owned broadband networks to expand beyond their state-mandated boundaries:

“FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will ask his fellow commissioners on Thursday to vote on Chattanooga, Tenn.’s and Wilson, N.C.’s petitions to override municipal broadband laws in their respective states. For the fiscal well being of taxpayers, and in the interest of protecting states’ rights, TPA urges Wheeler’s colleagues to uphold these state laws in Chattanooga and Wilson, which have placed prudent restrictions on government-owned broadband networks.

“While there is significant legal debate about whether the FCC even has this authority, it is clear Wheeler’s preferred path would spell almost-certain doom for local taxpayers. Chairman Wheeler called the Chattanooga and Wilson systems ’very successful,’ but numbers don’t lie: taxpayers in these cities are hundreds of millions of dollars in debt because of these networks. In Chattanooga’s case, the city’s debt rating was downgraded – a fact that raised borrowing costs for other projects, even while the network charged some businesses thousands of dollars a month for it ultra-fast service. Provo, Utah taxpayers lost more than $30 million after their city was forced to sell its network to the highest private bidder. The highest bid for Provo’s network was a mere $1 – a testament to how little value city-owned networks have.

“The private sector can – and does – provide affordable, reliable access to broadband, so taxpayers should be offended that their leaders want to spend their hard-earned dollars on networks that are duplicative instead of investing them in education or security. Chairman Wheeler’s colleagues should stand up for taxpayers and states’ rights and vote no on expanding government-owned and taxpayer-funded broadband.”