Nashville Town Council and the town Utilities Service Board will meet in a joint meeting this week to discuss a potential rate increase for water and sewer customers.
The two boards will meet on Feb. 23 at Town Hall.
The rate increase will help offset repairs to the system that were brought to the town’s attention by Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The town received a $2 million State Water Infrastructure Fund grant from the Indiana Finance Authority in October to improve longstanding wastewater issues identified more than a year ago.
The proposed work to be funded partially with the grant money will fix problems at the town’s wastewater treatment plant, which prompted IDEM to step in the fall of 2019.
IDEM notified former Town Council President Jane Gore in October of 2020 that it had reason to believe that the town wastewater treatment plant had violated environmental rules.
One of the biggest concerns Water/Sewer Operator Robin Willey has dealt with is what’s known as “I and I” or “I/I” — infiltration/inflow of water that is not wastewater into the wastewater system.
The estimated total cost for the projects was about $6 million. The town will combine grant funds with a $3.9 million loan that has a zero percent interest rate from the State Revolving Fund as well as pledged American Rescue Plan money from the town council to cover the entire project, Nashville municipal adviser Dax Norton said in a meeting in October.
Norton said in a joint meeting between town council and the utilities service board last week that due to recent inflation, the project could now cost as much as $9 million.
Current Town Council President Nancy Crocker said on Feb. 18 that if they do not fix issues with IDEM, they would take over water distributions and rates could go “sky high.”
The town and utilities board met on Feb. 17 to discuss moving forward with the Brown County State Park project and costs associated with that.
Read more about both meetings in the March 4 Brown County Democrat.
