Chattanooga Mayor Ron LittlefieldTomorrow Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield will take another step in his wrongheaded effort to consolidate the region’s water and sewer utilities into one huge, bumbling, expensive, socialist-style mess.
The mayor is planning to pitch his scheme to create a regional wastewater (and, ultimately, water) authority at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the City Council building. The thought that the Chattanooga government, which has failed monumentally in running its own sewer system, could be in a position to dictate to successful wastewater departments how to operate has already sent surrounding utilities running from the idea.
“We don’t plan on joining them,” Don Stafford, general manager of Eastside Utility District, told Times Free Press reporter Cliff Hightower. And for good reason.
Eastside and the half-dozen other water and wastewater utilities in the Hamilton County area have been able to manage their water and sewer services without massive rate increases or running afoul of federal regulators. The same can’t be said for the city’s sewer system.
Over the past decade, the average monthly city sewer bill has nearly doubled — increasing from $12.82 to $22.99. Despite this outrageous price hike, the city government’s sewer department has failed to perform adequate maintenance and make needed repairs to Chattanooga’s sewer system. As a result, the federal government slapped the city’s sewer system with a $250 million consent decree, which will further increase Chattanoogans’ sewer bills.