Knox Clerk-Treasurer Discusses Water Department Numbers with City Council

Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

Knox City Clerk-Treasurer, Jeff Houston, discussed the numbers from the Water Department with the City Council members at their recent meeting.

“This year we have a small loss of $54,000 in this utility,” said Houston. “It might come to a little bit less, but that’s what it’s projected to be, but that also includes $66,765 in depreciation.”

Houston said the projection is for the Water Department to lose less money next year.

“Next year, it’s projected that it’s going to go down slightly to $36,355. The Water Department is running right at the edge. We’re not making any money on water. It is what it is. I can’t change the figures.”

Houston said he thinks the city does a good job of collecting water bills.

“We try and do our best to collect on water and outstanding debts. I think we do a good job on outstanding water and sewer debts. I file a lot of liens on sewer debts. We can’t file liens for water, but we’ve been pretty successful in collecting outstanding water debts.”