Century Shuffles Fund Balances So Gas Department Can Pay Bills

July 13, 2022

Rising costs across the board left the Town of Century Gas Department without enough money on the books to pay its bills without the help of other town enterprise funds.

The town council has approved transferring $50,000 from the water department and $25,000 from the garbage fund. It is projected the $75,000 will allow the gas department to meet its obligations through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

“Due to the unanticipated high price of natural gas, the income in the Gas Department funds is inadequate to pay all of the bills,” Town Clerk Leslie Howington wrote in a council agenda item. She said that the increased cost of doing business — from vehicle fuel to supplies and equipment — have also hurt the bottom line.

It’s not the first time other town funds have been used to sustain the gas department’s operations.. During the fiscal year ending in 2019, the gas department received $121,447 from the two funds, and $73,049 in 2020. During the four-year period ending in September 2019, Century’s gas department losses topped $1 million. That prompted the town to get to work replacing inaccurate residential and commercial meters and correcting billing problems.

Comments

13 Responses to “Century Shuffles Fund Balances So Gas Department Can Pay Bills”

  1. Shay on July 15th, 2022 10:09 pm

    @ Willis

    Just ask. I’m sure you could get a loan free of charge

  2. Willis on July 15th, 2022 7:42 am

    I’m having trouble with my gas budget as well.
    Having to move money from my entertainment budget. ??

  3. Cyrus on July 14th, 2022 12:04 pm

    All in all concerning Century and we citizens, this is normal.
    If we people wanted it different they they know how.
    People are resistant to change.
    All the posting about all the things we know about our town are not going to change it.
    No one cares.
    20 years from now it will be the same old postings and complaints about Century.
    50 years from now…the same.
    Century is the Twilight Zone episode of the ultimate end.
    1 or 2 or 10k complaints is futile.
    Century in 100 years will be a tour museum, for tourists to view ultimate failure, because we want it that way.
    Sad really.
    Century is like the roach, stays the same for eons and will be eons in the future.

  4. Shay on July 14th, 2022 2:39 am

    You don’t have to live in Century to see how inept it is at running it’s city. Also everything he has said has been posted on here and much, much more.

    Loaning money to counsel members(was it ever paid back? if so where is the proof?), giving away free gas, trying to cheat developers out of money and the latest… not charging rent to a new business because it has no equity in its company. These are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

    When they took the money from the other departments to pay its bills in the past when did it get repaid? If it didn’t then why were the funds given to the departments in the first place? Did they need the money to begin with or was it given to those depts because they knew they’d steal it back later and hope it wasn’t noticed?

  5. Kim on July 13th, 2022 11:00 pm

    @ Ohyouknow
    You dont even live in Century.
    FACT..outsiders stirring the pot.
    With no info that everyone doesn’t already know about the township here your blowing a lot of hypothetical air.

  6. SMH… on July 13th, 2022 10:35 pm

    What the council needs to do is clean house of all those that handles the finances of the Town. Why would you keep the same gang in place year after year? Sometimes you can solve your problems just by hiring new people. Give it a try and see what happens, see if the Town‘a financial situation improves. You need fresh eyes and hands every so often. I can’t believe that Century has had these same people in place all of these years.

  7. Ohyouknow on July 13th, 2022 12:32 pm

    So just a little while back they did a gas line audit and found customers were getting free gas and when they went to question the guy running that department he quit. Im betting there is still free gas being handed out. This town is as crocked as it gets, giving council members loans? yeah that happened. Break this place up. get it off the county and states coffers

  8. Citizen on July 13th, 2022 11:29 am

    Raise the gas rates to the customer. Duh.

  9. JR on July 13th, 2022 10:06 am

    Doesn’t take an expert to realize the repetitive losses are due to either inefficient operations or inefficient rates.

  10. RaD on July 13th, 2022 9:44 am

    Only two questions. One, does the town not have a long term gas contract that at least minimizes large swings in gas prices. Two, does the town not have a mechanism where fuel cost, at least to some extent, are passed through to the customer.

  11. ensley boy on July 13th, 2022 9:41 am

    ” Due to the unanticipated high price of natural gas “…….Where have they been? The price of most everything has been skyrocking for a long time.

  12. judy on July 13th, 2022 7:27 am

    But Century just spent big bucks on fireworks! Where is Fiscal responsibility here? One would think this town was run by Biden Democrats!

  13. SW on July 13th, 2022 7:16 am

    Betcha wish ya had that rent money, now?

    Failed town. Break it up. Sell off assets. Privatize services.

    You can still call it Century; it just wouldn’t be a town; it’d be an unincorporated area.