Pipeline pressure
Norris poised to approve phased $20 monthly rate hike to fund $5.4 million sewer overhaul
Norris residents will get a final chance this coming Monday (Nov. 10) to voice their concerns about a pending $20-a-month sewer-rate increase, during a 5:45 p.m. public hearing just before the City Council meeting, and when the council considers final approval of the measure in the regular meeting at 6 p.m..
The council is expected to approve the staggered-increase proposal on second reading during the meeting.
Last month, the council voted 4-0 on first reading an ordinance to implement a special sewer-rehabilitation charge of $20 a month for all sewer customers, but in $5 a month increments every three months, beginning Dec. 1.
The full $20 would kick in as of Sept. 1, 2026. The additional charges would help the city finance state-mandated upgrades to the system.
Residents would see the first $5 increase on their Dec. 1 utility bills, followed by an additional $5 every three months through next Sept. 1.
That would raise the base sewer rate from the current $55.01 a month for the first 2,000 gallons to $60.01 on Dec. 1, $65.01 on March 1, $70.01 on June 1, and $75.01 on Sept. 1.
Usage in excess of 2,000 gallons a month would continue to be billed at $9.44 per 1,000 gallons for the next 7,000 gallons, then $12.48 per 1,000 gallons beyond the first 9,000 gallons.
In Norris, sewer charges are added to the water bill only for customers who are connected to the city’s sewer system. The water-only rate is now $26.96 a month for the first 2,000 gallons.
All residents also pay a $15 trash-collection fee and a $3 stormwater fee added to each month’s utility bill.
Altogether, residents who have water and sewer service already pay a monthly minimum utility bill of $102.60. Individual bills vary for households that exceed the 2,000-gallon minimum each month.
Norris has about 700 water customers, but only about 570 of those also have sewer service, and only they would pay the $20 sewer surcharge.
During its July 21 meeting, the Norris Water Commission, composed of the five members of the City Council, directed city staff to bring a proposal to its next meeting for raising the sewer rates to help the city qualify for low-interest State Revolving Fund loans to help pay for part of its sewer-system upgrades, which are already under way.
A contractor on July 14 began the first of a planned series of projects that will eventually cost in excess of $5.48 million for the sewer work, which has been mandated by Tennessee environmental regulators.
While the city has received some grants to cover part of the work, the SRF loans will have to provide the rest of the money, City Manager AdamLedford said earlier.
Hurst Excavating LLC. of Knoxville received an $851,455 contract from the city for the first phase of the sewer-line upgrades, mostly along East Norris Road.
The project includes replacing older sewer lines to help reduce the influx of stormwater runoff that overwhelms the city’s sewage-treatment plant following significant rainfall.
That contract, approved April 14 by the council, covers about 25% of the sanitary-sewer system, Ledford said.
“These are the areas most in need of repair or replacement to reduce load levels at the sewer plant,” he said.
Excess runoff of stormwater into the city’s sewer system has caused the city to run afoul of state environmental regulations.
Since early 2022, Norris has been under a “director’s order” from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to clean up its discharge of sewage into Buffalo Creek, just south of the sewer plant, which is on the west side of East Norris Road just north of Andersonville Highway.
The department found the city in violation of water-quality regulations concerning those discharges bypassing the sewage-treatment plant.
Last year, the city also set up a new Stormwater Department under control of the city manager, with the goal of creating a better system of managing stormwater runoff than what the city now has, which includes some stormwater collection lines mostly along city streets.
The problem is that during periods of heavy rain, stormwater infiltrates the city’s sanitary sewer system, causing an unmanageable flow to the city’s sewer plant.
There, the excess stormwater mixes with raw sewage, and because it can quickly overwhelm the treatment facility, this combination of sewage and stormwater ends up bypassing the treatment plant, and gets dumped into nearby Buffalo Creek.
Under the engineers’ plan, the price for the bulk of the work was estimated to be $5.48 million, with a potential bill as high as $6.6 million.
That does not include the possibility the city might need to install a 750,000-gallon holding tank for stormwater runoff, at an additional cost of more than $2.1 million.
The city also may be required to update or replace its sewage-treatment plant. Norris is hoping to get help from other nearby utility systems to pay for the new sewer plant.