The Ruins of Trenton

Palmer administration officials and representatives from E-Path Communications better bring a pretty convincing argument to Tuesday's City Council meeting if they want the council to award $250,000 to E-Path for a proposed citywide Wi-Fi network.

Representatives from both groups previously said the network would be built for no cost to the city, but that zero number soon ballooned to $200,000, and now it has grown to $250,000.

Some City Council members said Monday that they remain skeptical of the plan, especially given the ballooning of the initial price, and reports of delays and problems with E-Path's other ventures.

People from Long Island say that E-Path has not followed through on its promise of a similar network there, with months and months having elapsed since the initial start date for a trial version of the network.

The Long Island folks even went as far as speculating that the 250K of Trenton city money would be used to get the Long Island network going, with an eye to attracting investors to put up funds to come back to Trenton, and get that network going even further down the road.

City Council members said they have also heard of unverified problems with a similar E-Path venture down in Florida, where other, similar problems and delays have been reported.

That $250,000 expenditure is equal to more than one cent in the city's tax rate, which is set to rise this year and likely next year as the city experiences increased costs and nearly flat growth in ratable and revenues.

Residency is also expected to be a subject of discussion during tomorrow's City Council meeting, which should take hours.

Docket review, an executive session about the recent residency lawsuit and decision, and the E-Path presentation all take up space on the council's agenda, in addition to a public residency discussion and public comment.