By C.D. Bradley, The Paducah Sun, Ky.
Nov. 07, 2000 (Knight Ridder/Tribune)—Several residents of the Olivet Church Road/Concord area were none too happy when told they would be required to pay a $3,950 tap-on fee when a sewer system is installed in the next year or two.
The residents raised their concerns Thursday night at a Paducah/McCracken County Joint Sewer Agency meeting at Olivet Baptist Church.
"I don't want it, I don't need it, and I can't afford it," one woman said to sounds of approval from elsewhere in the crowd.
Frank Overby, technical services director for the JSA, said the agency had been given a mandate to expand sewer service countywide when it was formed with the merger of several county systems and Paducah sewer service last year.
He added that state law allows the agency to put a lien on properties as security for the payment of tap-on fees. The agency's sewer use ordinance requires property owners to connect to sewers adjacent to their property within 12 months of installation.
JSA Chief Financial Officer Doreen Wollersheim said the agency was setting up a payment plan spread out over two, five or 10 years because the agency "realizes this is a financial burden."
The project as proposed will affect 140 currently developed properties and is budgeted at slightly more than $1 million. The tap-on fees for those residents will cover $553,000, with the balance being funded by the agency in hopes that 80 or so potential tap-on properties are developed. Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in the spring and is expected to take nine to 12 months to complete, putting completion sometime in early 2002.
Several residents were troubled by the discrepancy between their proposed tap-on fees and lower rates in other areas, specifically Reidland, where the tap-on fees are only $350. Wollersheim explained that when the agency was formed, the city and county commission decided it had to retain the existing rate structures in each of the service areas. She said the Concord project, because it was tapping into Paducah's old sewer system, was being priced according to the Paducah sewer methodology.
She added that with Reidland's low tap-on fees came much higher monthly rates. Under the Reidland system, customers were commonly paying $60 a month for sewer service alone, while customers in the Concord area would pay less than $20 for the same service under the old city rate structure.
All that could change after the agency has a rate study performed. The study will likely result in a standardization of rates and tap-on fees throughout the county. The study is expected to be completed next year.
Overby told the residents that if the project exceeds its budget, the agency will cover the difference, but if it comes in under budget, the tap-on fees will be reduced accordingly. He added that any trees and shrubs that have to be removed from personal property will be replaced with new ones.
"We're going to make every effort not to disturb those," he said. "But if we take out a dogwood, we'll give you a dogwood back. Now I can't give you a 30-year-old dogwood. I just can't. But we'll do the best we can."
He said any driveways that are torn up would be replaced by the agency.
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© 2000, The Paducah Sun, Ky. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
