Slick Rick

As 2007 wended its way through history, Department of Public Works Head, Richard Jones faced a serious problem with a city full of deteriorating sewer lines and a packed DPW budget with nowhere to get the money to cover the ever increasing costs to repair them.

He faced a City Council that can’t prioritize spending to save their collective souls or the City of Racine.

What was he to do?

But there was another problem that caught his eye that was causing pain and agony out in the private sector. And got his thinking wheels going: Homeowners were getting hit $12,000 a pop to fix their collapsing sewer laterals (the section of the lateral from the house to the main line that runs down the middle of the street).

Rick thought about his problem. And he thought about their problem. He put them together and, wha-la, came up with a solution: A Fee.

Sell it as a Homeowner’s “Insurance” Fee (the BAIT) for homeowner’s sewer lines, then use it to get the money he needs for his sewer lines (the SWITCH).

(Admit it: Slick Rick is Brilliant. That’s why he plays the City Council like a piano.)

The aldermen took it, hook, line and sinker. They didn’t have to raise taxes. It got those wailing homeowner off their backs crying about the 12G hit. And the sewer laterals got fixed.

The aldermen even got the promise that the fee would not be raised.

It passed. Slick as a Rick.