Councilwoman Elisa Chan sounded vaguely menacing as she recalled her warning to SAWS officials before a public meeting in the Champion Ridge neighborhood last fall. Their job that night was to explain what would happen if voters OK'd wiping out BexarMet and handing its assets to the City-owned utility. One of the questions they needed to address was whether they anticipated any rate increases in the short run.

Chan's District 9 encompasses Stone Oak, which was in the Bexar Metropolitan Water District's service area.

"I told SAWS before the meeting to be very careful with what they say, because I'll be the first to enforce any promises they made," she said.

CPS Energy CEO Doyle Beneby and other top officials at the City-owned utility raised their glasses last February 21 at Bohanan’s restaurant and bar for a farewell toast to 10-year board member Stephen Hennigan.

The credit-union executive had held on to his appointed post for more than a year after Mayor Julian Castro pushed for his resignation. Castro considered him too close to CPS managers who sparked the controversy over just how much it would really cost to expand the South Texas Project nuclear complex in Matagorda County. But the year-old controversy did nothing to dampen the mood at the farewell party.  

Although they weren't invited, ratepayers footed the bill for the swanky event, which included snapper ($991), ribeye steaks ($743), and $2000 worth of alcohol. CPS also was charged more than $1,100 for people who didn't show up after the utility told the restaurant how many they expected to attend. Grand total to the ratepayers: $7,074.

Let's dispense with the Warren Buffett comparisons right off the bat.

Would the value-investment wizard from Omaha have written the following?

"The capital allotment decisions I will make will shape the organization. Therefore, [Berkshire Hathaway] is a jockey stock. You are choosing the jockey; I am choosing the horses. It would be asinine to bet on the jockey and then deny him the saddle or whip."

No. San Antonio activist investor Sardar Biglari wrote that in December, in his 2011 letter to shareholders of Biglari Holdings. (Indeed, insert "Biglari Holdings" where it says "Berkshire Hathaway" in the preceding paragraph.)

Executives at Glazer's Inc., a major distributor of wine and spirits, told City officials in early 2010 that their operation near the AT&T Center was hemmed in. They wanted to expand, but couldn't at that location. So they worked out a deal where the Dallas company would buy 35 acres from the City at the Southwest Business and Technology Park on the West Side, build a $25-million facility, bring over their 125 employees, and add another 100 jobs. In return, Glazer's wanted a 10-year tax abatement and a SAWS impact fee waiver.

But it looks like the distributor had to pay a price for leaving the East Side: $400,000.