Flint asks state for another extension to report on water system finances - MLive.com

FLINT, MI -- For the second time this month, the city says it’s going to need more time to investigate its financial status and complete a report on the best way to improve its water system.

On Dec. 9, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy granted Flint’s request for a delay until Jan. 31 for updating plans for improving its water system -- potentially without higher water rates.

Scott Dean, a spokesman for EGLE, said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal that the city has asked for more time, for a second time.

“Since that (initial) request, the city’s financial officer has advised that it will take until March to adequately assess the city’s financial status,” Dean’s message says. “The city has since requested an extension of the ... update to March 2020, which is under consideration by EGLE at this time.”

Updates to the city’s technical, management and financial capacity plan are required by a December 2018 voluntary agreement between the state and Flint, Dean said.

The plan is designed to describe how Flint officials intend to upgrade, manage and pay for its water system through the year 2023, and the city is required to provide a signed statement every six months, describing its progress.

EGLE granted the previous extension request for the plan “in consideration of the new administration and efforts to confirm the financial status of the city’s water fund.”

The Journal could not immediately reach a city spokeswoman for comment on Tuesday, Dec. 24, but new Mayor Shedon Neeley has called the city’s water fund into question since he took office last month.

A Nov. 27 press release from the city said a preliminary assessment showed that the water fund, previously projected to go into a deficit, has a fiscal year 2020 balance of more than $20 million.

Auditors are in the process of taking a closer look at the fund, city officials have said.

Neeley has pointed to the water fund as an example of “poor fiscal oversight” in the past in the city.

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Flint asks state for another extension to report on water system finances - MLive.com
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