A state government that doesn’t examine its agencies on a regular basis invites further bureaucracy, which is good for no one.
So a legislative review for the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA), which was created after a state law was passed in 1994, sounds like a good idea.
But since such a review – the prospects of which are currently pending in a bill before the Tennessee General Assembly – could end the agency’s existence on July 1, 2019, and fold operations finto the Hamilton County government, it may be too soon to call for such a thing.
Could there be a better way? Could there be ways for everyone involved to settle what don’t seem like insurmountable issues that customers, business owners and plumbers have with the agency?
One way to help could be another bill in the legislature, one – sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, and Rep. Marc Gravitt, R-East Ridge – that would require WWTA customers to make a deposit for sewer services when they begin water service. In exchange, the WWTA would stop trying to collect unpaid fees from the likes of building owners or new tenants, who in most cases have nothing to do with uncollected fees from previous tenants.