Another Coody Sewer Debacle

This time it will be a November Surprise. Mayor Dan Coody will be asking for a whopping 61% increase in Water and Sewer Impact Fees to cover another of his mistakes with the Westside Sewer Plant Debacle. Coody fall guy Dave Jurgens admitted that Coody and his staff failed to include a rather crucial capital improvement project the last time he raised the fees, and now that the money has been spent, the city can’t build a transmission line and storage tank to improve water pressure on the east side of town.

At Coody‘s request, the City Council previously approved spending $2.3 million in impact fee revenue to cover part of the cost overrun on the Westside Sewer treatment plant, but Coody failed to include the cost of pipes leading to the plant. Say what? Dan got us to pay for that “work of art” and forgot that we might need to connect sewer pipes to make it functional? Gee whiz.

As soon as the election is over, Coody will propose raising impact fees on an average single-family home by another $700. The increased fee would be $1,843, up from the $1,143 already charged. He will say that’s what some consultant told him to do. He will try to do it without a vote of the people. He will also blame the City Council and the Water and Sewer Committee for failing to catch his mistake.

It's time for a change. We can do better than this.