Opinion | Trenton’s Water Woes Expose Crisis of Local Competence

Our local governments are failing us. Poor management and misuse of public funds have damaged American communities, like Trenton, New Jersey, whose public water agency is on the brink of collapse. Crises faced by municipalities like Trenton are emblematic of the consequences of that incompetent municipal governance. Local leaders must be better trained and adopt a more coherent vision if we expect to alleviate this crisis of municipal governance plaguing America’s vulnerable communities.

This past July, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) Commissioner Shawn LaTourette demanded that Trenton Water Works (TWW), the city-owned utility company, consider regionalization in order to avoid imminent collapse. The Trenton City Council has pushed back against this demand, claiming an incursion on local self-determination. Suddenly, this 160 year old utility company is Trenton’s “most valued public asset”. This shift has astounded residents of Trenton, and the surrounding towns of Hamilton, Ewing, Lawrence, and Hopewell, who have watched a revolving door of TWW directors and management failures over the years. 

While Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora is pointing fingers at the NJ DEP for “strong arming” the city council and “coercing” them to regionalize TWW, critical infrastructural and institutional failures are happening right under his nose. A TWW worker was caught filing fake reports on water quality from a TWW plant between October 2022 and December 2023. When testing water quality, the NJ DEP had to discard 90 per cent of samples because they were unverifiable. During Commissioner LaTourette’s visit to TWW facilities, he claimed that the conditions are “the worst he’s ever seen” and that TWW is “the worst water utility in New Jersey”. Current estimates say that more than $570 million USD will be needed for infrastructure improvements and another $23 million USD needed to address unpaid bills. The state has since filed a lawsuit against the city and TWW for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Regrettably, this case is not unique. Cities around the United States have dealt with similar issues. Flint, Jacksonville, and Baltimore have all faced similar water supply issues at the hands of local misconduct. The problems don’t stop at water: housing infrastructure failures, emergency response malfunctions, and inadequate education resources are just a few other areas where local governments fall short. Our local governance structures are broken. 

A study conducted by professors at Binghamton University’s School of Public Administration illustrates a very clear trend: many local leaders simply are ill-equipped to do their jobs. These professors found that officials often fail to understand “municipal infrastructure costs,” “aspects of good government,” and “proper legislative procedures.” Local officials struggle to balance communication with stakeholders and constituents. Often, local governments are in over their heads, unable to effectively manage large problems and make difficult choices. The system allows for massive incompetence.

This issue has been a long time in the making. The concept of “home rule” was introduced for municipal governance in the early 20th century, when urban communities were much smaller and more concentrated. This idea allows for local leaders to come directly from the community, without a background in municipal management. As communities grew, capable governance did not grow with them. As municipal responsibilities expanded, local leaders remained unchecked, resulting in procedural and financial inefficiencies. Local officials failed to understand how relevant government structures worked, or why things were done in a certain manner. The case of Trenton is just one example. 

Two main things need to be done to improve local governance. One is increasing our standard of community knowledge and the governance training that our officials have. Yes, not everyone has a background in municipal management, but this is not an excuse for poor knowledge of local structures. Residents must raise their expectations for the political vision of their representatives. Professors at Binghamton University’s School of Public Administration recommend expanding orientation for new leaders and involving career public servants to aid in educating officials. There exist management training courses for local leaders to improve skills in financial management, strategic planning, and communication. More governments should invest in these. 

Secondly, local governments should avoid overextending themselves. In many cases, officials lack a clear, focused mission and fall victim to a “short-termist” mentality. Municipalities invest time and money into projects that can be completed within one’s tenure, which is often only four years. This includes the construction of decorative features, program services like caterers and musicians, and recreation amenities. These are services that the private sector can provide, often to a better standard than local governments. Instead, municipalities should focus on filling the gaps in services provided by state and federal governments. This includes fixing public utilities, investing more in education, and updating public housing infrastructure. This issue is especially apparent in Trenton, which spent $3.2 million on no-bid contracts to improve recreation facilities. While these are important public services, the city should have created a competitive bidding environment to achieve lower bids and spend more money on improving other infrastructure. 

In the United States, most municipalities rely on taxpayer dollars to fund initiatives. Therefore, the most reliable way to increase the budget is to increase taxes. In cities like Trenton, where a significant amount of the population is low-to middle-income, increasing taxes is not possible without triggering considerable emigration. Thus, it is absolutely imperative that local governments are held to a higher standard when it comes to making financial decisions. 

While many analysts may say more residents should take greater issue with the conduct of their representatives, I propose another call to action: local officials should take greater issue with their own deficiencies. There are incredibly difficult circumstances handed down by federal and state governments. However, these obstacles are not an excuse for inaction. The hard decisions that local leaders must make require skills that they don’t currently have. Unlike other struggles that municipal governments face, improving the level of preparation that local officials have when assuming their roles is more than feasible. Competent leadership isn’t a luxury, but the lifeline our communities need to survive. If local governments can’t rise to the challenge, they’ll continue to drown the very communities they were meant to serve.

Edited by Stellar Zhang 

Featured image:  “Front entrance of the Trenton Water Filtration Plant of the Trenton Water Works in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey” by Famartin is licensed under CC Share-Alike 4.0.