PICAYUNE —
Round Rock, Wildwood and Hunter’s Trace sewer systems were awarded to the Pearl River County Utility Authority by the Public Service Commission on Friday.
A Public Service Commission hearing held Friday ended with the commission deciding to award those sewage systems to the Utility Authority.
The PSC held a public hearing in Picayune earlier in the month to allow residents of those three subdivisions to address any concerns they had with the Utility Authority possibly taking over the systems. Most of the concerns hedged around being billed for usage, instead of being billed on a flat rate under the systems’ current owners.
During the public hearing in Picayune, Utility Authority Engineer Brooks Wallace described a number of soon to be necessary upgrades for each of the systems. The upgrades include the need for aerators, irrigation lines and drip fields into which to discharge the treated waste water. Estimated cost to conduct those upgrades in Wildwood, the system that would incur the largest expense, was estimated to be $210,000, Wallace said.
Utility Authority Executive Director Jeff McClain said customers in those subdivisions can expect to pay a flat sewer rate of $24.25, now that the systems have been awarded to the Utility Authority.
If the sewer systems had stayed with the developer of the three subdivision, Sonny Stuart, the expense to make the needed improvements would have been passed down to the owners of Wildwood’s 87 homes. That would have added $8.83 per month for a period of 10 years to those residents’ current rate of $22.50. Now the Utility Authority will make the improvements under its rate structure.
McClain was not able to say when those improvements would take place, saying the improvements will not be needed until the number of homes in the subdivision increases.
Stuart, developer of the three subdivisions, approached the Utility Authority about taking over the systems, leading to the public hearing held by the PSC, McClain said. Official ownership transfer of the systems to the Utility Authority will take place in about 30 days.
The board also will have to enter into discussions with the water provider for that area, Center Water, to determine how the sewer rates will be collected. Two possible options will need to be discussed: whether the water provider will collect the rates or whether the Utility Authority will collect them, McClain said.
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PSC awards PRCUA with sewer systems
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