While it is true that Trenton will still be under contract to sell water to the buyer of the outlaying distribution system, it will be at a lower rate than if we sold directly to the customers outside the city. 

Right now, the suburban system generates $25.2 million a year or 60 percent of the utility’s entire $42 million projected annual revenue. The deal seeks to replace that $25.2 million with a contract to sell water to New Jersey American Water worth only $9.6 million, eliminating the utility’s legal ability to generate extra cash to plug the city’s budget and keep taxes low.

With only $4 million or so in savings from the deal, as cited by Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez, the post-sale the utility will be left with a deficit of $7 million or so, which will have to be realized through rate hikes hitting the wallets of city taxpayers.