Manassas Preserves Broadband Program

Funds to Continue While Service Is Studied

Manassas residents who use broadband-over-power-line Internet service will be able to stay plugged into the Web for at least a few more months because of action taken by Manassas City Council.

During Monday's meeting, council members budgeted and appropriated the $77,500 needed to fund the Internet service through June 30. The city assumed the broadband-over-power-line, or BPL, franchise from Communication Technologies in October because the company wanted to discontinue the service. The franchise serves about 670 residents.

BPL technology runs off the city's electrical grid and allows users to access the Internet through any electrical socket in the home or office, rather than through phone or cable television lines.

City officials have spent the past few months analyzing the system and whether it is a good investment. Proponents say it is necessary to continue funding BPL because it provides economical Internet service -- about $25 a month -- to residents, some of whom are underserved by telecommunications companies.

Others, however, say it is not the government's job to provide public Internet service.

"I'm opposed to wasting taxpayer money and with government competing with private entities," said Manassas City Council member Jonathan L. Way (R). "We already have two providers of Internet service. The only good news I see in this proposal is that we are only wasting $77,500."

Comcast serves the entire city, with prices starting at about $25 a month, company officials said.

Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell said that most Manassas residents are served by Verizon's DSL or FiOS Internet services and that the company is committed to having FiOS available to all residents by 2011. The cost of Verizon's DSL service begins at $22 a month, while FiOS pricing begins at about $45 a month.

Gregg Paulson, deputy director of the city's Electric Department, said it is not unusual for a locality to enter the telecommunications business. There are 2,000 municipally owned electric utilities in the nation, and 700 of them offer telecommunications services to the public, he said.

Paulson said it will take a few years for the city to make a profit off the service. It is, however, still beneficial to have because it acts as a steppingstone for future endeavors, including an advanced metering pilot project approved by council last month.

That project will allow residents and city officials to monitor water and electric meters remotely, which utility officials said will reduce the city's emissions and help residents shave their utility bills.

"If we didn't already have BPL in place, we would have had to spend more money on deploying" the meter program, Paulson said.

Council members said they will reevaluate funding BPL in July after they find out whether Manassas can get any of the broadband funding available from the federal stimulus package, which Paulson said offers money to areas that are underserved or not served by telecommunication companies.

Also during Monday's meeting, the council unveiled a $303.7 million operating budget that will be up for a public hearing April 20 at 7:30 p.m.

The operating budget includes a $100.9 million general fund budget, with $49.5 million going to city schools. The general fund, which encompasses the majority of revenue and expenditures, is down roughly 6 percent from last year and reflects the plunge in residential property values across the city. The average assessed value of a residential unit dropped 35.9 percent from last year, and commercial property prices fell 8.3 percent.

The council's budget includes a proposed tax rate of $1.35 per $100 of assessed value, up 33.5 cents over last year's rate, and a fire levy of 14 cents, up 4 cents. Under the proposed rate, residential bills would decline 14 percent and commercial bills would rise about 24 percent.

Because commercial and residential properties must be taxed at the same rate, the proposed budget also includes a lower business personal property tax rate that would save the average business $900.

For information on the budget, visit http://www.manassascity.org.