A chairman was elected during Friday evening’s meeting of the Utility committee that oversees Trenton Municipal Utilities. Cathie Smith was selected as chairman.
Other members of the committee are Dave Mlika and John Dolan. Each is a city council member and chairman of other committees for the city. Mayor Linda Crooks reported two citizens are to be nominated soon to become members of the Utility Committee subject to the approval of the council. That’ll make it a 5 member committee.
Reports were presented by department heads and the utility director along with the monthly review of TMU’s financial information. Comptroller Rosetta Marsh, in her written report, noted the eight and a half percent increase in water rates will be charged to customer bills this month. That increase, originally planned for May, was delayed by the city council because of the local economic impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Customers received a notice that past due accounts must be paid this month.
Mrs. Marsh wrote TMU net revenues this month showed losses in electricity and water but a gain in the wastewater fund. All funds show a decrease in cash at the end of the fiscal year on April 30th as well as a decrease in cash from the previous fiscal year. She noted fiscal year to date, total cash and investments for the TMU funds have dropped, overall, by $2,852,558. The biggest portion of the decrease in funds was in wastewater down $2.5 million.
Utility Director Ron Urton reported engineers are developing proposals on design plans regarding repairs and modifications to the clarifier basins at the water plant.