The City of Hollister coffers received its annual boost in
franchise fees Friday from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and
the 2003 year’s payment of $203,000 is up $28,000 from 2002.
The City of Hollister coffers received its annual boost in franchise fees Friday from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and the 2003 year’s payment of $203,000 is up $28,000 from 2002.
As a county, San Benito cashed in for a combined total just over $300,000 across all the area PG&E services. Statewide, the utility sent $77.5 million to the 49 counties it operates in – an increase of $3.4 million from last year.
PG&E pays cities throughout California each year for the company’s use of public streets to provide gas and electric services, according to company spokesman Jeff Smith.
Power lines for those services run above the city streets and also underground. The franchise fee is comprised of a percentage of company profits.
“We need the streets in order to deliver our product,” Smith said.
The payment goes into the city’s ailing General Fund, which can go toward just about any services or salaries, according to Hollister Finance Director Barbara Mulholland. For the past five years, the city has run General Fund deficits.
“Generally,” Mulholland said, “somebody from PG&E walks in, shakes my hand and hands me a check.”
Of the $203,000, about $102,000 was allocated for electrical lines and $101,000 for gas. The payments are due from PG&E each year by March 31.
“It went up, on average, across the board throughout the state of California,” Smith said.
Statewide, PG&E paid out $128 million, including $13 million to San Jose. The bigger the city, the bigger the payment, Smith said.
On average, the fees across the state jumped 22 percent; Hollister’s increased 16 percent.
The total amount paid “usually goes up a little each year,” Smith said. But he did could not provide an average annual increase.
“During these tight budgetary times, (PG&E) continues to meet its commitment to the counties whose revenues depend in part on franchise fees paid by the utility,” chief financial officer Kent Harvey said in a written release.
