The Hamilton County Water & Wastewater Treatment Authority today asked the Hamilton County Commission to add a general contractor to help it meet its goal of inspecting 300 sewer lines a month, saying the 16 plumbers now doing the work are not enough to meet that goal.
The WWTA is inspecting the home under the Private Service Lateral Program. Repairs are estimated to cost $3,000 to $5,000 per line, and the WWTA implemented a $8 monthly fee to cover the costs.
But the WWTA may have to raise the $8 fee it charges customers in order to adequately fund the program in the future.
According to the WWTA, the $8 fee was implemented to fund the program for the 20 years.
Louis Wright, the county’s administrator of finance and a WWTA commissioner, said if the county had implemented a $20 to $22 fee increase, it would not face the issue of having to borrow money. He said a bond issue to fund the program 30 years would cost the county $15.8 million in interest.
Commissioners also heard from plumbers who said it sometimes takes them months to receive payment from WWTA for their services.
The WWTA is responsible for the public sewer system in unincorporated areas of Hamilton County as well as East Ridge, Lakesite, Lookout Mountain, Red Bank, Ridgeside, Signal Mountain and Soddy-Daisy.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.