Private companies buying public water utilities?

New proposal could
make that easier

Fears over public water after the lead disaster in Flint, Mich., have contributed to worries for a bill moving quickly in Madison that would make it easier for public companies to buy publically run utilities. 

The biggest concern with the bill, says La Crosse water utility manager Mark Johnson, is that is removes the need for a referendum in order to finalize the sale.

“The bottom line concern is that it really,” Johnson said, “in a practical aspect, it’s taking away the right of those of us that are paying rates to actually have a reasonable say in what happens.”

 

The republican-backed private water proposal is moving quickly through the legislature and is now only waiting for a vote from the senate. Johnson says just one water utility is currently privately owned in the state.