The price to correct the damage resulting from Madison Utilities’s fluorescent treatments represents a drop in the bucket for a financially inflated water utility, documents acquired by the AL.com Show.
The Madison Utilities Council voted in March to stop adding fluoride to the water it sells to nearly 19,000 customers in the city and parts of the Madison prefecture, which has been in force on June 16th. This week, the Madison City Council called on a representative to explain the decision that took place in the minutes. There are no members of the public and it was Posted on the agenda of the session as “discussion of chemical feed”.
The Municipal Council puts a representative to the Board of Directors, but has no control of the utility.
David Moore, Water Manager for Madison Utilities, told advisers that the move followed the discovery of “very heavy, expensive damage” due to fluoride erosion in a processing plant. The cost of upgrading the installation would be just a shy of half a million dollars, he said Monday.
Financial documents paint a picture of a public utility with large and growing financial resources.
The latest audited financial statements of the utility have $ 441.2 million in assets – including $ 15.9 million in cash – and liabilities of $ 245.7 million. Operating revenue was just over $ 32 million, up from $ 28.5 million in 2023. The costs amounted to $ 19.5 million, for a $ 12.5 million operating surplus.
Utility reported unlimited assets of $ 25.4 million. His auditors issued a clear opinion.
He 21 January meeting of the Board of DirectorsWhere the control was presented, Madison’s utility businesses are “significantly better financially than other comparable utilities”.
Board members did not respond to multiple requests by email for comments.
In addition, the standard financial documents used by public organizations – the audited financial statements, annual reports and budgets – are not available on the Madison Utilities website. This makes the utility a deviation between public water businesses that serve the large 10 municipalities of Alabama.
Huntsville utilitiesBirmingham Water Works, and Mobile System of Water and Sewerage They are all regardless of the governments of their city but Each publications budget and other financial documents on their websites. Hoover’s water is mainly powered by Birmingham Water Works.
Water supply systems in Auburn, Dothan, Decatur and Tuscaloosa belong to their respective cities, so that their usual finances, budgets and reports appear in municipal documents. Only Montgomery’s water utility documents appear to be not available online.
US public health officials have recommended since the 1960s that public water supplies contain fluoride to prevent tooth decay. It is now used in public drinking water supplied to about 3 of the 4 Americans, according to the American Cancer Society website.
Madison’s water has been fluent since 1991.
City Councilor Connie Spears Sits on Madison Utilities Council as a Council link. He was traveling to the city’s operation during Monday’s meeting, but Counselor Ranae Bartlett said Spears “was authorized” to ask the Board of Directors to review his decision.
The next scheduled meeting of Madison Utilities Board It is scheduled for May 5 at 5:30 pm on 101 Ray Sanderson Drive.
