Who’s to pay for sewers, streets?

Tim Gobble

As the county sewer authority rushes to meet an agreement with the state to repair old, leaky lines, it must cut into thousands of streets to reach them.

Then its crews will repave the roads and maintain them for one year.

But should the authority pay fees to local cities for the road scars they leave behind?

East Ridge is caught in the middle of that debate after being sued by the Hamilton County Water and Wastwater Treatment Authority – of which it is a member – for recently requiring the utility to pay a $200 fee each time it slices into the asphalt.

“Basically they’re wanting to charge us what will be over $1 million for these road-cut fees, that no one else is charging us, to repair their own sewer lines,” said the WWTA’s attorney, Chris Clem.