Jennings Northwest Regional Utilities continues to hold out hope that the state will provide some financial relief in the near future.
For now, the five JNRU board members have delayed their previously announced plan to resign en masse.
"We have agreed to stay on at the request of state officials so that something can be worked out," said Ed Whitaker, president of the board that also includes Dave Brinkman, Tom Trulock, Linda Clerkin Wooton and Brian Roney.
State Rep. Dave Cheatham (D-North Vernon) is continuing to work with other Indiana officials in an effort to obtain financial assistance for JNRU, Whitaker said.
The water and sewer utility is saddled with a $9 million debt, most of which is the result of a failed expansion project. Over half of the debt, $5.3, is from a loan the state issued in 2002 to pay off JNRU's bonds and bond anticipation notes from the expansion project and the construction of a wastewater treatment plant that has never operated properly, according to some experts.
The utility has 1,400 customers, virtually all of whom are inside Country Squire Lakes. The sewer expansion project, which started in 1999 and ended in 2001, was to include a large area outside CSL. Several miles of sewer lines were laid but no new customers were ever connected. The project touched off an uproar among targeted customers who protested what they perceived as being forced to connect to the sewer at exorbitant rates. The project also ignited a territorial dispute between JNRU and the City of North Vernon and an enormous amount of litigation, which ultimately doomed the expansion.
JNRU board members contend that its current customers are being unfairly expected to shoulder the debt for the expansion that was outside the utility's original territory - specifically, outside CSL.
Many JNRU customers have a difficult enough time now paying their water and sewer bills, according to board members, which are higher than those of other nearby utilities. The addition of debt relief charges, which are supposed to escalate in coming years, will make the bills even higher.
The JNRU board first threatened to resign one year ago when they announced they would all step down in March if no assistance was forthcoming from the state. Shortly before that deadline, the board announced it would delay the resignation until June.
Whitaker said shortly before the June deadline, state and county officials asked the board to stay on longer to facilitate some sort of arrangement.
"We want to do everything we can to help the situation and gain some financial relief," he explained. "At this point I don't know how much longer that might take."
