Communications, industrial park top list of CU projects

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

City Utilities' proposed budget appropriation for fiscal year 2000 totals $281.4 million. The budget has been the subject of public meetings and is set for action by the board of public utilities Aug. 26. City Council will hold a first reading on the budget Sept. 7 and will vote on it Sept. 27.

This year's budget contains some major expenditures, one of which is for the construction of a city-county trunked radio system. The utility is one of four partners in the project: the other three are the city, Greene County and the Greene County Sheriff's office.

CU will expend $21.5 million during fiscal 2000 to construct the infrastructure and to purchase its own radios to be used with the system. The infrastructure portion, which totals about $20.2 million, will come out of CU's budget for this year, but the other partners will pay back their portion of that cost, said Bill Burks, executive senior manager of electric systems.

The other $1.3 million investment the utility will make in the radio system is for its own radios and equipment.

"The other entities will share the cost of the infrastructure