We’re not sure if it’s a 25-year itch, but it’s one that at least deserves scratching.
Just over 25 years ago, then-Chattanooga Mayor Jon Kinsey suggested the city buy Tennessee American Water Co. About 25 years before that, then-Chattanooga Mayor Robert Kirk Walker urged the city to buy the utility.
Current Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly hasn’t come out and said that’s what he plans to do, but he was plenty steamed about the recent rate request of nearly 20% on Chattanooga customers by the utility.
“Our country is in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and we’re feeling it here in Chattanooga,” he said during a public hearing organized by the Tennessee Public Utility Commission in October. “The cost of housing, the cost of groceries and almost everything else has increased substantially. The last thing that families and businesses in Chattanooga need right now is another increase in their monthly water bill.”
The residential rate increase would have averaged around $4 a month under the proposal, according to filings with the Tennessee Public Utilities Commission.