MOUNT JEWETT — The sale of the Mount Jewett water system has taken another step forward, when two bids for the financially struggling facilities were received and presented to Mount Jewett Borough Council.
A quorum of borough council president Chuck Paar, council vice president Will Antrim, Councilman and water plant operator Brett Morgan, and Councilman Rod Danielson reviewed the bids.
Morgan said borough council received the two bids shortly before the meeting, adding a bid of $720,000 came from Hershey-based Pennsylvania American Water and a bid of $1.1 million came from Bryn Mawr-based Aqua America Inc. Representatives from both companies toured the Mount Jewett water facilities in March. Utilities Inc. of Northbrook, Ill., also expressed an initial interest in purchasing the facilities in October, but the company did not submit any bids.
Morgan said borough council will discuss the options with the potential sale of the water system at its May work session. He said borough secretary and treasurer Barbara Harp will assemble data of the debt status of the water system when the borough assumed control in October 2011 to compare with the current debt status. Morgan said borough solicitor Dan Hartle will look over the contracts, and no decision is expected before the July borough council meeting. He also said borough council moved to close all bids on the sale of the water facilities.
Morgan said an advantage to selling the water system to Aqua are more than just an extra $400,000. He said Aqua would freeze the current water rates for approximately four and a half years, with $690,000 in capital investments to be made over the first five years.
However, Paar said all options must be weighed carefully. He intimated that perhaps the water facilities could potentially not be sold and retained by the borough if keeping the aging infrastructure would be in the best interest of the future of Mount Jewett.
Morgan said in October that regardless of whether or not Mount Jewett sells the water facilities, upgrades will need to be made to the water system. He said the last major line project was completed in the 1980s
The water system was in debt almost $600,000 as of the February borough council meeting. This figure is down from the $750,000 debt that was reported in May of last year. The Mount Jewett borough budget reported in December that the water department has a total revenue of $223,495 and has $221,081 in total expenditures.
