The publicly-owned utility in Bryan, Texas is ready to release the salaries of its top executives after battling for over a year against such a move. The city council will vote tonight on a measure confirming that salary information and certain other Bryan Texas Utilities records are public.

BTU is a government-owned operation but has hidden its information behind a caveat in state disclosure law that shields government-linked utilities from open records laws in the name of competition. In many markets, that competition has never come, yet the taxpayer-funded information, including salaries, is not disclosed.

In Bryan, the city has sought financial information since May, when the city manager sought budgetary information for compiling the city’s budget. The local newspaper also requested financial information. BTU refused both.

Now, BTU’s GM Dan Wilkerson has been convinced that releasing some information is OK, although he gives no reason for his change of mind in a story by the The (Bryan-College Station) Eagle:

"'There seems to be in the community a few who think that some salaries at BTU and some information about our operations should be released so that those who pay for our electric services would know more about how we operate,' Wilkerson said. 'We are trying to do that while protecting those things that are important to our business.'"

If the sad case of hidden records has an upside, it could be in the actions of state Sen. Steve Ogden, who's making noise about repealing the 1999 law that allows these quasi-governmental entities to withhold important information from the public that pays their bills. Ogden tells the Eagle, "I promise we are going to address that."

We’ll be watching.

Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.

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Photo of electric meter by flickr user Trisha Weir, used via a Creative Commons license.