City council considers $1.3 million in water meters

Mountain City is stretching a grant to get nearly a thousand extra water meters, but even more will be needed before too long. When the town took over the Cold Springs Utility District, it replaced the district's water meters and made other improvements using a grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. City Recorder Audra Gerty said there's $250,000 left over from the grant, which can be used to purchase new water meters for town residents. She's asked First Tennessee Development District to transfer leftover funds from other projects to raise the total to $300,000 — enough to buy 900 water meters. That leaves the town with around 3,250 old water meters without a replacement lined up. This is a problem because old meters are dying at a rate of 10 to 12 a week, and it's going to get worse. "Back in 2012, the town replaced all the meters…within a 12 to 16 month time frame," she said. "They're at the end of their lifespan; they last about 15 years." Gerty believes replacements for all old meters need to be bought in the next two fiscal years, costing around $1.3 million. The Board of Aldermen discussed how to fund them during its Feb. 19 budget meeting. The first idea of raising water rates for two years was immediately abandoned when a quick calculation revealed it would increase monthly water bills by $26. Currently, the town charges $15.40 a month for a minimum of 2,000 gallons used of inside water and $6.99 for each additional thousand gallons. Alderman Lawrence Keeble suggested getting a "development loan" with a "real cheap interest rate" from a local bank. Mayor Jerry Jordan suggested spreading a water rate increase across more years, so the monthly increase would be less severe. Vice Mayor Celeste Dunn pointed out that if the town made a rate increase permanent, it could put the money earned beyond $1.3 million into a special fund reserved for 15 years from now or whenever water meters start to die off again, so the town won't be put in the same situation. Gerty said she has been unable to find any other grants that will fund water meters. Water Collection and Distribution Superintendent Matthew Hicks said the new meters, which alert the town of leaks much quicker than the old meters, were a "lifesaver" during February's freezing weather. One morning, the town detected five leaks, all of which were at least six gallons per minute. "One of the ones was 16 gallons a minute; the lady was elderly and couldn't hear it and it was flooding her entire crawlspace," he said. "If it hadn't been for the meter, who knows how bad it would've gotten." On the subject of water department savings, Gerty shared how impactful recent changes to the town's water leak adjustment policy have been. "We went from $140,000 a year in write-off adjustments to probably about $70,000 to $80,000, is my estimate," she said.