You asked, “If BT is a financial mess than why are people coming out of the woodwork to privatize it?” I’ve asked that same question myself. I asked, at a public hearing, why we as taxpayers haven’t been given the option to invest in Burlington Telecom. I think it’s an investment well worth making (or, more correctly, continue to make).

The City can find financing, and in fact *has* found financing. Unfortunately the political will is not there to go through with this financing. Also, the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) has recommended that the City not refinance. The main issue is that BT is over-capitalized and any new financing would be based on the City’s good will, not the assets that BT owns (this is what the company offering financing has said). A related problem is that BT’s Certificate of Public Good (CPG) states that they can’t put taxpayer money at risk. In other words, we can’t really “invest” in BT we can only borrow against BT’s collateral (which is already maxed out).

Both Nulty and Montroll’s involvement in BT was before the financial crisis that BT is currently facing. It’s hard to tell with everyone pointing fingers, but from what I can tell this financial crisis was almost entirely caused by the *current* management of BT (or should I say mismanagement of BT). Besides, they’re willing to put up their own money to get past the immediate crisis. Obviously, as you said, the long term financial right-sizing of BT would involve outside money.

Personally, what I would like to see with *any* third party is that the City keep a 51% stake in BT and/or have a contractual option to buy back BT over time if the citizens of Burlington so choose.

There’s no reason to sell all or any partial stake of BT at this stage in the economy. If BT is a financial mess than why are people coming out of the woodwork to privatize it? Also, clearly these 9 “reboot” people aren’t paying with cash and are lining up financing elsewhere. If they can find financing than why can’t the city do the same? If the taxpayer has held the risk of BT for this long, they should hold on and reap the reward and not sell off early.

Finally why is it that people like Nulty and Montroll who had a stake in managing BT previously should get another chance?

Clearly, this proposal is a compromise that satisfies all political sides, but I think its selling-out a good investment.