The city of Chattanooga and the Walker County Water and Sewerage Authority are engaged in an ongoing legal dispute in which the city claims the authority owes more than $25 million in unpaid bills and fines.
Though the authority owns and operates its own wastewater collection system and treatment facility, it has relied on Chattanooga’s Moccasin Bend facility to meet the needs of an increasing population and is billed for those services.
In a letter sent to the Walker County Water sewage authority on Sept. 16, Phil Noblett, deputy city attorney for Chattanooga, wrote the authority had “short-paid” 22 invoices for wastewater sewer treatment services Chattanooga provided from October 2017 through July 2019. The total outstanding balance for those invoices was nearly $1.9 million. He further stated the authority owed the city more than $23 million in penalties resulting from a breach of the 2016 agreement that serves as a wastewater contract between them.
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“Walker County’s refusal to timely pay the full amounts owed is a material breach of the parties’ agreement,” Noblett wrote, demanding payment within 60 days. “That amount continues to accrue at the rate of $1,000 per violation per day,” he wrote, plus interest.