Editor, Gazette-Journal:
At its monthly meeting on April Fools Day (April 1) the Board of Supervisors demonstrated to the citizens of Gloucester County how to run the Public Utilities Department (PUD) into virtual bankruptcy. First, maintain the rates for over 14 years without ever raising them, despite flagrant inflation taking place. Second, fail to establish a sinking fund limited only to expenditures for maintenance and repair of the assets plus a percentage for unexpected occurrences.
The PUD is responsible for a very limited number of citizens (5,238 out of a population of 38,711 or 15 percent of the total population) who were eligible to choose between government provided water and sanitation services while the rest of us were relegated to wells and septic systems that were our sole responsibility. Now Mr. Hutson, a long-term Supervisor, is objecting to this “unfair” imposition and suggesting that the rest of us should subsidize their choice to use PUD. Mr. Gibson also supports ...