Incremental water/sewer rate increase approved by LUB
TOP PHOTO: LUB General Manager Dave Cross
By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- The LaFollette Utility approved an incremental water and sewer rate increase at a Monday evening special-called meeting. The increase is approximately 4 percent and will go into effect on January 1, 2027. According to LUB General Manager Dave Cross, the increase was recommended by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) in order for the utility to be able to still qualify for use of State Revolving Fund (SRF) loans to use on projects. According to TN.governement.org, “Tennessee’s State Revolving Fund Loan Program provides low‑interest, federally subsidized loans for planning, design, and construction of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects for eligible local governments and water systems.”
This was also in accordance of the recommendation of Jackson Thorton, a rate consulting firm, which the utility had commissioned to do a rate study last year in 2025.
“When I arrived here in August, there was a letter from TDEC that basically, said for us to continue qualifying for SRF funding on two projects we are currently wanting to build, that we would need to do at least a 3.76 increase, that is from TDEC and was sent to us and the city of LaFollette back in July – so that was on my desk when I landed and I knew that was something I would have to deal with,” Cross said. The utility board was also “waiting for the rate study results to come back to see what their suggestion was to implement the increase.”
“What they recommended is a three-year rate change, and so we approved a rate change for this year and the next two years; this year, it’s just under 4 percent. On the water side it is a 3.88 percent increase and on the sewer side it is a 3.92 percent increase,” Cross said.
Per year, this increase will generate approximately $236,045 on the water side and $106,148 on the sewer side in revenue for the utility department. This will allow the utility to continue qualifying for SRF funds for two projects that are in the plans.
“The primary project is in the downtown LaFollette area where we have some very old infrastructure, old six inch lines that were installed probably going back to the 1950s even, so this is a major project for us in the downtown area, and it is roughly a $4 million dollar project and of course with SRF funding we would be forgiven $2 million, which is 50 percent of that, so it would really be helpful. This was something that was required by TDEC to continue qualifying for SRF funding. On the water and sewer, if you don’t have state funding and qualify for grants and loan forgiveness, it is really difficult for municipal utilities to build these kind of things, so they kind of had our back against the wall as far as it was something we needed to do in order to qualify to continue to make improvements to our system,” Cross said.
The other project will be the purchase of a couple of generators that will be installed to provide backup generation at the water treatment plant.
This was passed unanimously on Monday, with all LUB members present except Mike Milton, who was absent. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/05/2026-6AM)
