If you receive a gas bill from CenterPoint Energy, or electric bill from Xcel Energy you may not know the City of Shorewood has covertly been taking money from you each month for years to increase their revenue. Look at your last bill from CenterPoint or Xcel Energy and you will see a line item that says “City Fees” or “City Franchise Fee”.
Xcel Energy [City Franchise Fee] $4/mo. or $48/yr.
CenterPoint Energy [City Fees] $4/mo. or $48/yr.
Cellular Usage [est. /household] $87/yr. per household
The city collects $320,000 per year from CenterPoint and Xcel and records the funds as a “Franchise Fee” for rights to use our public right-of-ways for gas or electricity lines. Your cell phone bill doesn’t break down a city fee, but you can bet it’s built into the rate they charge us each month. The city collects $220,000 per year from your cellular companies for the antennas on our water towers. That’s a total annual tax of $540,000!
If you look a little closer you’ll see the County and the State are getting a piece of your tax dollars too.
