DAVIDSON – MI-Connection will again need the towns of Davidson and Mooresville to provide almost $5.9 million in the next fiscal year, and that works out to $1.9 million for Davidson.
That’s $120,000 less than the town had to give to the broadband company last year, and Davidson Town Manager Leamon Brice said this week that he sees that as an improvement. “That’s $120,000 that we don’t have to find,” he said.
Brice will present his budget to the Davidson Board of Commissioners at its meeting Tuesday night, April 26. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.
The towns bought the bankrupt Adelphia company in 2007 and had to issue millions in debt to upgrade equipment and install cable to make MI-Connection competitive. At the same time, officials say the recession and competition have slowed MI-Connection’s revenue and forced the towns to cover its operations.
In a March 4 letter to the N.C. Local Government Commission, which monitors the financial health of governments and agencies, former MI-Connection Chairman John Kasberger said, “In our 2011 financial performance, we experienced the loss of two major apartment complexes, representing approximately 580 customers, which is forecasted to result in a disappointing 0.4 percent growth in subscriber numbers for 2011 over 2010.”
Last year, during Davidson’s budget deliberations, MI-Connection General Manager Alan Hall forecasted a 10 percent growth in “revenue units” for 2011. One customer using phone, cable and data service could represent three revenue units.
In the same letter to the Local Government Commission, Kasberger included how much MI-Connection believes it will need from both towns for the next two budget years.
In the current year, the towns provided $6,459,651, with Davidson supplying 31 percent – or $2,020,000 – representing its share of the customer base.
MI-Connection officials say they’ll need $5,886,906 for the coming 2012 fiscal year, and Davidson’s share, which has grown to 32 percent, is $1.9 million, Brice said this week.
The company expects it will need $4,508,703 in the 2013 fiscal year. If Davidson’s share remains at 32 percent, that translates to $1,442,785.
MI-Connection seats new board members, elects officers
DAVIDSON – The MI-Connection Board of Directors elected former Treasurer John Venzon as its new chairman on April 13.
Venzon, a Davidson resident, is the president of AdvantaClean Systems of Huntersville, a former Bank of America senior vice president and husband of Davidson Commissioner Laurie Venzon.
At last week’s meeting at River Run Country Club, former Chairman John Kasberger and board member Rick Howard stepped down from their posts, and Huntersville communications executive Brett Ellis took a seat on the board.
Davidson and Mooresville, which own the broadband company, recently changed the makeup of the board, and the other new members are Davidson Town Manager Leamon Brice, Mooresville Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith and former non-voting Cornelius representative Steve Miller. Members Dawn Huston and Ken Essex also return to serve another term on the board.
The board elected Ellis as treasurer and Huston as secretary. Ellis is vice president of business planning and financial reporting for Charlotte-based FairPoint Communications. A Mooresville resident and board member since October 2009, Huston is senior marketing manager for Deb Group and has worked for Rubbermaid and Solo Cup Co.
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