SEWER RATES TO RISE BY 25%

By: Dewey R. Wotring

June 18,2008

Judge Duane Murner announced yesterday that the Oldham County Sewer District (OCSD) may have to raise rates as much as twenty-five percent or face bankruptcy and that the district would also have to streamline the operations.

Murner stated that the county may have collateral responsibility for the debt of the sewer district.  The question that immediately comes to mind is,"Where has the oversight of the fiscal court been?"  Surely the OSCD didn't get in this financial condition overnight.

Of course Murner's administration does not have a good track record of demonstrating management skills.  Eden Park (Oldham Reserve) has had severe financial problems and the director of the Oldham County Economic Development Authority had to be called before fiscal court to explain their activity. The county budget was not balanced during Murner's first year in office and he now claims that taxes must be raised for the fourth time in eighteen months.  Thus, this latest financial snafu should not come as a surprise to Oldham countains - it certainly doesn't surprise me.