MARION TO PAY SEWER FEES ORDERED BY COURTS

The Town of Marion Tuesday, just minutes before a hearing was set to begin regarding the sewer fees it owes to the City of Meridian, agreed to pay in full the amounts established in earlier rulings in Chancery Court.

Under the terms of the agreement, Marion will immediately pay to the City of Meridian $281,900, which had been frozen by the judge in the case. The balance of the past due debt, an amount not yet fully determined but which will be less than $140,000, must be paid prior to January 31, 2009. In addition, Marion must pay to Meridian $2,500 a month toward the unpaid balance and eight percent a month in interest payments. Marion must also continue to pay each month’s current sewer charge to Meridian on time.

“Meridian has been totally vindicated,” said Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith. “Marion has finally acknowledged its full debt to Meridian. What’s most important is that we promised our people we would collect every penny owed to them plus interest, and we have done that.”

Mayor Smith added that the legal battle “never should have happened. Both communities could have been spared if Marion had acknowledged its debt and paid it in good faith when the judge first ruled in our favor. Instead, a series of appeals and other legal maneuvers have kept the issue in the court system for five years.”

Tuesday’s agreement was signed by Judge Billy Bridges, a retired Court of Appeals judge who is serving as special chancellor for Lauderdale County.

Meridian began providing Marion’s sewer service in 1986 at a rate of $.67 per thousand gallons. Several years later, when Meridian informed Marion town officials that the rate would be increasing to $2.43 per thousand gallons, the same rate City of Meridian water customers pay, Marion balked, and the legal battle began. At every turn in the case, through numerous hearings and appeals, the courts have sided with the City of Meridian.