What Citizens are Saying...
"Why does John Watson of the Tennessee-American Water Co. start his letter with the comment that Tennessee-American Water’s only focus is quality water service? Most of us know that the main focus of his company is to make money. If this was not the case, we would be receiving the service for cost. The real issue is how much of a raise is necessary. Most of us know that the rate increase is too high. But the real facts are not clear."
- W.D. Wright
"Water supplies are required for life and economy, and should be owned by the public. Hixson, Savannah water utilities are operated as public non-profit districts. We are the only larger city in Tennessee that does not own and control their water supply, and it is outrageous that a European company controls or water supply from our communities river."
- Al Edmonds
"Any halfway close examination of the chart dividing up the water bill, on the front page of the Sunday paper provided by Tennessee-American Water Co., would reveal a huge error....So, let’s do the math: 6.40/16.54 equals 38.7 percent taxable profit. A very handsome rate of return indeed! A rate that should make any investor proud. Yet, they want an additional 20.58 percent increase on 39 percent? Perhaps we should all go into the for-profit water business."
- Ron Koplan,CPA
"They’ll take anything they can get. I would be willing to bet my retirement that they will be back again next year, but there is no reason why Chattanooga has to have to highest rates of any major city in Tennessee."
- State Rep. Richard Floyd
"Let no one be deceived by the figures in the (Tennessee-American) Water Co. letter to customers, so easily accepted by the Times Free Press for publication. It's a beautiful example of 'creative accounting.' What would be more relevant is the company's income, profits and dividend distributions to stockholders."
- B. Carter Pate
"Tennessee-American has earned a reputation for large, frequent rate increases. The fact that Chattanooga has the highest rates for water service among the six largest cities in the state and again is facing the possibility of a large rate increase is reason for us to ask the Tennessee Regulatory Authority to closely examine what is happening here."
- Rep. Gerald McCormick
"We live in a great country where we are assured certain rights. While we may not have the constitutional right to affordable drinking water, we have the freedom to fight for what’s in the public interest. Don’t let Tennessee-American bilk you for all you’re worth, Chattanooga. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. Fight for affordable water."
- Barbara Hanson
"I find it ironic that Chattanooga has been blessed with the beautiful Tennessee River flowing literally in the middle of our fair city, yet we have the highest water rates of any major city in Tennessee and TAWC wants to increase them even more. How about a serious look at how it conducts its business and let them know that it should be considered a privilege to do business with us rather than an opportunity for it to take advantage of its position of being the only water provider in the area."
- Richard A. Johnson
"Imagine a big corporation coming in and trying to sell our own air or sunshine back to us...I further agree that asking for a 20% increase is only a bargaining chip to get a less substantial double digit increase. I say NO! After a 12.8% increase last year we should not stand idly by for any increase in rates this year. Don't be fooled by the company propaganda of only $3.65 increase per family per year. I don't know anyone either who has a water bill of only $16. Imagine what a 20% increase in water costs will do to Volkswagen."
- Kirk Brody, MD
"It is time for the fine people of Chattanooga to retake their God-given right to fresh, clean drinking water provided at a reasonable cost by a locally elected and managed system accountable to the voters. Water should not be a commodity to be bought and sold at a profit."
- Rod Wilkerson
“The number of Chattanoogans who are less than a paycheck away from being unable to pay for shelter and keep their families fed is staggering. In this economy, every penny counts. These water companies are draining us dry in order to line the golden pockets of their shareholders”
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Warren Logan, president of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga
"I’m not opposed to allowing companies to make a profit, but there is a limit when the business holds the public interest in its hands. Typically, we can go elsewhere to do business if we’re not happy with a company’s prices. But because Tennessee-American has a monopoly on the system, we don’t have the option of shopping for less expensive water."
- Jeannette Cutrer
"Tennessee American Water Company has simply gone to the well too many times. Each time monopoly returns to this panel for rate increase it carries a bigger and bigger bucket."
- David Higney, attorney
"The City of Chattanooga has great respect for the TRA, but believes that the Authority did not correctly apply the provisions of Tennessee law that place the burden on Tennessee-American to prove that it is prudently managing its system and that the costs it seeks to pass on to ratepayers are just and reasonable."
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Mike McMahan, Chattanooga Assistant City Attorney
“For too many, the cost of living is already high enough – our water rates cannot keep rising. We don’t want to detract from all the positives that contribute to our quality of life and make this community such a great place to call home,”
- Pam Duffy, president of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors
"It would appear that it is time to correct the out-of-balance condition that exists between the interests of ratepayers and the TAWC shareholders. Breaking the pattern of granting larger and larger increases at more frequent intervals would be a good place to start. Perhaps it would help if TAWC were introduced to some of the principles of lean manufacturing practiced by many of their customers. It might also learn that cost reductions can have the same effect on the bottom line as revenue increases."
- Ray Childers, Chattanooga Manufacturers Association
"We want the Tennessee Regulatory Authority to know that we will not sit idly by while Tennessee-American asks for excessive rate increases year after year."
- Valoria Armstrong, president of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County branch of the NAACP
"Tennesseans have ownership rights to this water that is vital to our continued economic growth. TAWC is a steward of the exclusive right to distribute it to us. With that exclusivity comes responsibility to the residents it serves that supersedes the responsibility to shareholders and investors."
- Randy Baker, Chattanooga businessman
"Like the commission I believe the increase request is excessive on the heels of a recent 12.3 percent increase. This rate increase would be harmful to many people in Hamilton County."
- Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey
"The continued requests for outrageous increases call into question the effectiveness and efficiency of the management of their financial resources and facilities. We must be as vigilant in holding them accountable to their responsibilities as they are in trying to get us to shoulder their burden."
- Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield