Spring City adopts temporary tank maintenance fee to repay water storage contract

Spring City’s Board of Commissioners adopted Ordinance O-2026-6 at its June 25 meeting, establishing a temporary Tank Maintenance Fee to recover remaining costs from a Utility Service Co., Inc. water storage tank maintenance contract. The ordinance passed on a second and final reading after a motion by Vice Mayor Jody Bauer and a second by Commissioner Reba Murphy; Mayor Leon Locke joined the attending commissioners in voting Aye.

The ordinance lays out a multi-year repayment schedule totaling $1,147,218. Under the schedule, the monthly fee per active water customer is listed as $15.20 for FY2026–2029, with lower monthly amounts in later fiscal years (for example, $6.18 in FY2030–FY2033 and $4.32 in FY2034–FY2035). Section 3 specifies that "The fee shall begin with utility bills rendered on or after July, 2026," and Section 4 directs that revenue be accounted for in the Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund and used for water storage tank contract recovery and related utility system purposes.

The ordinance text identifies tank-related line items (e.g., Hillcrest, Clearwell, Valley) and a column labeled "Total Repaid" that sums to $1,147,218; the ordinance authorizes the town to implement the fee through its billing system and to make reasonable billing adjustments, including rounding to the nearest cent. No public speaker statements or alternate funding sources were recorded in the minutes.