Opinion : Letter to the Editor: Vinton Utilities $8 Million Cash Reserve

Dear Editor,
No time like the present to help the citizens & businesses in our town when we need it most!
As Kurt Karr pointed out in a letter to the editor on December 15th, the Vinton Municipals have a cash reserve of $8+ million dollars. Kurt also mentioned that this is enough money to cover every electric bill in town for two years!The COVID-19 crisis is going to have a significant financial impact on the majority of us. The majority of families in the US are already living paycheck to paycheck. Yes, many of these families may receive unemploymentor a stimulus check during this time. What many people don't think about though, is the number of people who are self-employed. Many of these people can not file for unemployment. If there is a nation wide lockdown, & they are not allowed to leave their house, that is money lost, money desperately needed to pay bills. A one or two time check from the government, is not near enough to pay for ones mortgage, city/water bill, car payment, car insurance, health insurance, property taxes, credit card bills, medicines, & other essential needs.In light of this, I propose the following:The City of Vinton should strongly consider using some of those funds to forgive the next 2 months city bills for all citizens & businesses that utilize Vinton Municipals. Please keep in mind that there is enough money to do this for two years, so two months will not deplete the fund to the point where it's going to cause further damage in the future.I believe that this would make a huge impact on the financial needs of our residents, & would also show them that our town cares about its citizens.This is our reserve, the money came from us, & it should be used to help us when we need it most....now.
Thank you,Valerie Bearbower
P.S. I would have liked to sent this to the VMEU board members as well, but I was having difficulty finding any of the board members email addresses on any of the City of Vinton websites.