To the editor:

It’s budget time at City Hall. The following is a simple idea that would address affordable housing and income inequality in a meaningful way,

The city of Lawrence has a franchise fee on our utilities that brings in about $7 million a year. This fee (tax) is much like a sales tax, same rate across the board.

The city could easily restructure this fee so that the first part of the utility bill would be exempt from the franchise fee. This would shift the burden to people with high energy bills and high-end cable. This change would be revenue-neutral and serve as a local carbon tax.

The saving for low-energy people would only be about $40 a year, but for low-income people, $40 is real money. This change could take away the regressive nature of the franchise fee. This simple change will continue Lawrence on our march to become a progressive city.