Image from City of Lubbock website
Lubbock homeowners will no longer face paying a plumber thousands of dollars to fix sewer connections.
But it’s not reverting to a free city service – and you’ll pay $1,000.
The Lubbock City Council approved a plan Tuesday to fix connections between alleys and homes – a controversial issue earlier this year when some homeowners received bills of up to $10,000 when the city temporarily stopped doing the work.
Since 2006, the city decided licensed plumbers could not work on sewer connections between the alley and homes. The work had to be done by city pipeline maintenance crews.
But over the past 18 years, it was costing the city money and the workload – roughly a thousand repairs per year – was too much.
Nearly a year ago, the Council voted to make homeowners – instead of city crews – responsible for fixing the connections. When it took effect this year, it caught many residents by surprise because city crews for nearly two decades did that work.
What the Council discovered was the city could do it cheaper than private contractors. But the city couldn’t afford to keep doing it for free.
That brings us to the new plan. The city does the work to keep the costs lower, but the property owner has to pay.
Timeline:
- Prior to 2006: Property owners hired plumbers to fix the connections
- From 2006-end 2023: City fixed the connections
- Early 2024: Prices for private plumbers varied wildly
- April 9: City took back the responsibility
- April 23: Council appointed a committee to study the issue
- July 9: Committee recommended property owners hire plumbers, but the city would give grants up to $2,500
- August 5: City manager outlined a plan for city to complete the work but charge $1,000 to property owners.
- September 3: Council approved a budget item to match the August 5 proposal
- September 10 and 24: First and second reading of an ordinance to make the plan permanent
What’s next?
“We do already have the trucks and we do have the equipment. I’ll just need to get the people,” City Manager Jarrett Atkinson told the Council Tuesday.
Atkinson’s original budget cut 19 jobs across the city, including three people that do this kind of work in the alleys. On Tuesday, the Council, as of part an overall budget of just less than $943 million, restored the three jobs (two workers and one foreman) which are currently vacant.
The sewer connection repairs are projected to cost $1.1 million. The city will go from seven crews currently to nine in the new budget. When these folks are not working on sewer connections, they’re doing other things like fire hydrant maintenance.
It’s not quite a done deal. The City Council needs to approve an ordinance with a first reading on September 10 and a second reading September 24.
Who owns the alley?
During all these discussions, there was some dispute over who owns the alley. However, there was no dispute over the pipes.
The sewer line running down the length of the alley belongs to the city. The small pipe connecting to your home – which is called a lateral line – belongs to you or your landlord.
Click here to see our previous coverage
Paying for it
The city will provide options to help homeowners offset the $1,000 charge.
It can be paid all up front, half and half or spread over 12 months, Atkinson told the Council.
“We would also create and fund an assistance program for low-income owners. That would start with $300,000 being made available through the … North and East Lubbock Infrastructure Fund,” Atkinson explained. Money for that fund comes from the City’s oil and gas revenues.
The assistance program would not be for landlords – only those who live in their own homes but cannot afford the repair bill.
The monthly wastewater base rate goes up $1 per month – most of that to cover other things, not just the initial cost of sewer connections. But the volume rates stay the same under this proposal.
“If we chose not to charge the $1,000, we were going to have to increase the volume rates by a little over 3 percent to cover the gap,” Atkinson told the Council.
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