Resident makes formal complaint at Huntingdon City Council meeting

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — One resident of a West Tennessee town expresses her grievances at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

This resident says she’s upset with the City of Huntingdon’s ever increasing water prices.

According to Huntingdon Mayor Nina Smothers, in 2017 the city was recommended by the state to begin incrementally increasing the price of water for residents in the city because they were not making a profit, which Smothers says is mandatory by the state. Since 2017, water prices have risen around 3% each year. Barbara Knuutila a Huntingdon resident and candidate for city council, believes the state does not require the city to raise water prices. Knuutila told us this was a self-imposed requirement through the city council.

“However, in that ordinance there is also a statement that the mayor and the city council can reject a water rate increase, all they have to do is create a resolution,” said Knuutila.

However, Smothers told us it’s not that simple. While the state does make recommendations, if a city does not begin generating revenue over expenses in water, the state can step in.

“They recommend, and then if you do not do that, then they can come back and put a 33% or a 25% as an order then you don’t have a choice,” said Mayor Smothers.

Mayor Smothers says the city adopted the incremental increases to protect the residents from large increases in costs. However, there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight to the annual increases as of right now.

“I can’t foresee the future. I can’t tell you what exactly might happen tomorrow, but hopefully we can on a regular basis look at where we are in terms of revenue over expenses and manage that such that we do maintain a profit,” said Mayor Smothers.

However, Knuutila says that her main goal is to get more transparency from the council about the issue.

“I want the city council to have discussions on their agenda items, regardless of what their agenda item is, so they understand exactly what they’re voting on,” said Knuutila.

For Huntingdon residents, Mayor Smothers says they are installing new meters for their customers that are more accurate and could produce more consistent rates.

In November, Knuutila will run against William Atkins, Chad Barnhart, Adam Crews, Lori Dillahunty, and Daniel Eubanks for four seats available on the city council.

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