Voters in a Michigan town overwhelmingly approved adding about $22 a month to their tax bills, in order to pay for the construction costs of a municipal fiber to the home system. Lyndon Township is in a rural area of southern Michigan, where broadband service is described by a local news site as “almost entirely lacking” (h/t to MuniNetworks.org for the pointer). According to a story in the Chelsea Update by Lisa Allmendinger, the vote was 66% to 34% in favor of the property tax hike…
Based on currently available taxable valuation data for Lyndon Township, the average cost per property owner for this construction will be about $21.92 per month. Estimated costs for basic internet access will be between $35-45 per month. This internet service will provide a basic speed of 100Mb, with no caps on data usage, with 1Gb (gigabit) speeds available for about $60-70 per month.
The average combined cost of the millage for infrastructure and monthly fee for basic service will be between $57-67 per month.
On the face of it, this muni FTTH project is credible. It’s small town – about 900 homes – and a small system, which means even a small disconnect between the business plan and reality can have big consequences for taxpayers. But the $22 per month tax hit is in the same ballpark as estimates elsewhere, including in San Francisco and for the Utopia project in Utah. It’s estimated to be a $7 million project, in other words right around $8,000 per household, which is a realistic figure for a rural build. If there are cost overruns or take rates don’t match projections, taxes might go up, but probably not by a huge amount.
It’s an honest approach to municipal FTTH financing. Instead of pie-in-the-sky promises, a realistic price was presented to voters and they agreed to pay it.