Get government OUT of the WAY!!!-----Traverse City Public Broadband System Has Way Fewer Customers, Money Than Predicted

Traverse City Public Broadband System Has Way Fewer Customers, Money Than Predicted

• Taxpayers and ratepayers are on the hook for this potential boondoggle

"For more than a decade, the electric utility in Traverse City — Traverse City Light & Power — has run a small data network connecting some of its public entities. Public officials believed that they could ramp that up to provide high-speed internet across the city at little cost to taxpayers.

They were wrong. So far, in rolling out its own government-owned network, the city and its contractors have missed almost every projection. And millions in taxpayer dollars are on the line...

• In January 2021, the municipal entity then sought a loan of $18 million from the United States Department of Agriculture to expand the network. The utility was approved for and accepted a $14.7 million loan in March 2022. 
• That loan cannot, however, be used to cover the last link of the network to a customer’s home or business, so the TCL&P says it needs to borrow another $3.2 million to cover those costs..."