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Whitestown officials review utility and RDC annual reports as water‑sale plans raise debt questions
Summary
Town financial adviser Nathan Fox told the Whitestown Town Council on April 8 that 2025 utility reports show rising interest income, steady operating results and significant customer growth; the council pressed how proceeds from a proposed water‑utility sale would be used to retire callable bonds and discussed a separate sewer‑rate ordinance to decouple sewer revenue from water‑meter reads.
Nathan Fox, municipal advisor with Cronin Associates, presented the Town of Whitestown’s 2025 water and wastewater utility financial reports to the Town Council on April 8.
“Your outstanding principal amount as of 1/2/2026 is 2.6 million,” Fox said of the water bonds, and he described a roughly $700,000 debt‑service reserve tied to those bonds. Fox told council members the town’s bank change and sweep account investments contributed to a large increase in interest earnings — from roughly $23,000 in 2023 to nearly $400,000 in 2025 for the utilities combined.
Fox highlighted customer growth as the primary revenue driver: the water utility added about 446 accounts from 2024 to 2025 (about an 8% increase), and the utility has grown roughly 2,100–2,200 customers since 2021. The wastewater utility saw similar patterns, with about 524 new customers in 2025 and major capital spending on a wastewater treatment expansion (Fox said about $10.3 million of an estimated $14 million contract had been spent through 2025).
Council members focused on how the town will treat outstanding water debt if the town proceeds with a proposed sale of the water utility. “Will the sale of the water cover… do we need to pay off all those bonds?” asked a council member. Fox replied the town has options: callable bonds can be paid off from existing cash before closing, the town can escrow sale proceeds until bonds are retired, or the buyer could assume and pay the debt out of sale proceeds. “You only need about $2 million… out of the cash on hand to pay that off,” he said.
Separately, Fox outlined a first reading of Ordinance 2026‑08, a proposed amendment to sewer rates and charges. The change would replace the current meter‑based billing for sewer with flat monthly rates by meter size, designed to preserve 2025 revenue levels if the water utility sale transfers meter‑reading control to a buyer. Under the draft, a residential 5/8‑inch meter customer would see a proposed monthly flat rate of about $49 (roughly equivalent to the town’s current 2,000–2,300 gallon usage band); Fox said the change is intended to keep total sewer revenue stable, not to increase it.
Fox said the ordinance includes provisions to protect the town against high‑use commercial customers — a monthly allowance by customer class and the ability to request meter reads from the buyer for unusual commercial usage and apply a small search charge if necessary.
Council members pressed for follow‑up review if the council adopts a flat‑rate system, and Fox agreed that staff will monitor early results and return with adjustments if the new rates do not generate the expected revenue.
What happens next: The sewer‑rate ordinance was presented for first reading and public hearing with no public speakers; adoption would require follow‑up council action. Town staff also said they can produce a closeout water‑utility report after any sale and the payoff of bonds to document final activity for the record.
