KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — High water bills have hundreds of people in north Knox County asking for change.
The Halls and Powell communities met with Mayor Glenn Jacobs and the Hallsdale-Powell Utility District about the rate hike Thursday.
Russ Rymer is one Halls resident who says his bill is much higher than it should be.
He built his house in Halls about two years ago and lives there with his wife and 2 young kids.
"So no teenagers taking long showers," said Rymer.
He said his most recent water bill was $150.
Rymer isn't alone with his high bills and frustration. Hundreds of other neighbors packed a community meeting Thursday set up by Mayor Glenn Jacobs, who is also a Halls resident.
"The water bills out here tend to be pretty high. I pay them myself," said Jacobs. "[Get some] understanding why that is on both sides."
The utility district's general manager Darren Cardwell said they serve more than 30,000 customers.
Cardwell said there was about a 4 percent rate increase this year. The district has a lot of infrastructure to update, and the money has to come from somewhere.
"We have to fix these things. We have raw sewage spilling into people's yards," said Cardwell. "We have people saying 'I can't let my grandkids play in the backyard because we have raw sewage.'"
Cardwell says their average rates are about $115 a month based on 5,000 gallon usage. That's a little higher than KUB, but still average compared to all East Tennessee districts.
But the costs are high enough that Mayor Jacobs worries about the grown of North Knox County.
"In the big picture of how that could impact the Halls area it is a big deal," said Jacobs
"North Knoxville's a great area," said Rymer. "We love it out here. I think if you talk to realtors people don't want to move to the area specifically because of the black eye. This is a Halls and Powell tax."
The utility district invited customers to come see their operations
Customers like Rymer said they plan to keep looking for ways to get those rates down.