Trenton’s surplus put to good use

The good news for Trenton: the town had a $1.5-million surplus for its latest fiscal year.

The not-quite-so-good news: the money’s already been spent.

At a town council meeting Tuesday, the town announced revenues totalling approximately $5.9 million were collected for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2018, after $4.3 million in expenses was incurred.

The Smelt Brook culvert project on Main Street in the town, a project that took several weeks to complete in 2017, cost the town $1.1 million.

Town chief administrative officer Brian White said the culvert work was “way over what we expected” when the call went out of tendering.

“It was a terribly complex project, when it came right down to it.”

Paving and sidewalk work on Main Street cost approximately $450,000 last year, and a pumper truck was purchased for the Trenton Fire Department at a cost of $313,000.

White said the town will be doing more road walk starting in 2019. “The biggest thing we’ll have is there’s a lot of paving to be done in town.”

He said three major projects are on the horizon: an expanded sewer system on Park Road that should open up that area for future development; water main replacement on north Main Street; and work on the water main on a section of Sixth Street.

In the last fiscal year, Trenton paid out $716,537 for protective services, slightly more than $1 million on recreation and cultural services and $700,420 for general government services.