154
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Long-term debt in water utilities: does ownership matter? Evidence from West Virginia’s utilities

, &
Pages 56-60 | Published online: 27 Aug 2021
 

ABSTRACT

Local governments provide a wide range of services and infrastructure to their residents including water, sewer, and storm water systems. In many jurisdictions, utilities are the most capital-intensive government function in addition to being the most visible one. In this paper, we examine the impact of utility ownership type on the long-term debt of water utilities in the state of West Virginia. Water utility ownership types include municipalities, public service districts, water associations and private utilities. Using a double hurdle model to examine 288 water utilities in the state, we find that public service districts and municipalities are more likely to carry long-term debt than privately owned utilities.

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

Current affiliation for Elham Erfanian is Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, Ohio University.This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Bill SB 234 passed in 2015 removed WVPSC from authority to approve rate changes for certain municipal water utilities. For more information, see https://www.wvml.org/component/rsfiles/preview.html?path=BILLSUM15.pdf

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 205.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.