Simply Stop Suburban Sewer Subsidies

According to this morning's City Paper, both sides in the suburban sewer fight are lining up their own consultants to argue the merits of the idea that Metro does not charge non-Metro customers enough for their water/sewer usage. There is one piece of information that cuts through all of the crap:

Metro does not bill all wholesale wastewater customers [in outlying suburbs] based on metered flows: “As a result, actual flows delivered to [Metro] for treatment are higher than billed flows,” the study says, recommending uniform meters be installed throughout the system.

Metro's mistake was failing to install uniform meters for all customers, in Nashville or out. No good deed goes unpunished, but why should suburban leaders now believe that they are entitled to the same utility for which they pay much less than Nashvillians, for which Nashvillians make up the difference?

Brentwood, the land of four-car garages and vast tracks of acreage, seems particularly ingracious about the special treatment it has been getting for years. To quote the Brentwood City Manager: "We’re always willing to pay our fair share, but we’re not going to pay for costs that go beyond that." Fine. Don't pay it and build your own sewers so that we Nashvillians can stop handing over our hard-earned cash to pay Metro Water to continue to pamper your spoiled bums. There's nothing fair about a share that doesn't equal what the rest of us pay for the service. I hope the Mayor gives you Brentwood & Belle Meade brats the ultimatum: pay up or be immediately cut loose to finance your own infrastructure. And good luck convincing your already taxophobic "red" majorities that they need to generate a revenue stream to flush your efflux.