Opinion

It’s August in Texas and we’re feeling the heat…in more ways than one. Last night was the City Council meeting for this month. There were some interesting things on the agenda, but the most interesting one was the discussion on the water tower. The city has been given a bid to re-paint the outside of the tower for $97,000. It seems the city is willing to spend this much just so the water tower will look as nice as our neighboring cities. However, they would like to go further and restore the whole thing. WHY??? For many years this water tower has been a thorn in the side for the city with TCEQ. That’s the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and they have TOTAL control. It has not passed inspection in years and violations were avoided by the promise of a new water system. So why spend thousands of dollars to restore something that has served its purpose and now needs to be put to rest. JUST TO LOOK NICE? I don’t think so. TO SERVE AS BACKUP STORAGE??? I don’t think so. What happened to Tri-County Water for backup??? How much would the INSIDE cost, which is totally deteriorated to the extent the lining inside is the same as gone? Thousands. By the way, not long ago when asked when the water rate would be lowered, we were told it would take a year to study the situation and decide if that was feasible. WHAT??? Now there is $97,000 dollars to spend on paint!!! Why don’t they have to take a year to study this expenditure? For more than five years, the citizens of Kosse have been promised that when new water wells were up and running, water rates would decrease. This sounds like we may have to have an INCREASE in rates to pay for all this spending. The Water Department has operated in the RED for years. All of a sudden they have more money than they know what to do with. Well I know, spend it on the infrastructure that is as old as the water tower and if there is excess lower the rates as promised. People are struggling right