18-208. Administration. (1) Billing and payment policies. Statements of account for sewer service shall be rendered monthly by the Department of Water Quality Control. Where the customer obtains both services the two (2) charges shall be placed on the same bill and will be rendered to the customer together and the customer shall pay the total bill for both water and sewer service within fifteen (15) days from the date of the bill at the City Hall, Cookeville, Tennessee. In the event of failure by the customer to pay the bill rendered for water and/or sewer, the said customer shall be given at least five (5) days' notice of intention to discontinue service, said notice to provide that if the charges for which the customer is delinquent are not paid within the said period, the Cookeville Department of Water Quality Control will discontinue water service to said customer. In the event of discontinuance of water service by the Department by reason or failure to pay either the water or sewer charge, said service shall not be restored to the customer until any and all delinquencies for water and sewer service have been paid, together with any and all connection charges or reconnection charges owed by the customer to the Department. In the event the service is discontinued for failure to pay the statements as rendered to the customer, service shall not be restored until such time as the customer has paid any balance of delinquent account for water and/or sewer service remaining, together with any or all connection or reconnection charges.
(2) Adjustment of bills. In the event of a leakage or wastage of water by the improper functioning of equipment beyond the point of service which results in abnormally high bills for water and/or sewer service, and upon proper assurance to the Department that said leakage or wastage has been repaired or eliminated, the customer's bill will be adjusted by an amount to be determined by averaging the bills for water and sewer service for the three (3) months immediately prior to the beginning of said leakage by subtracting this amount from the bill for which adjustment is desired, and adjusting said bill by one-half (½) of the result, provided however, that the adjustment will be made for only one month's bill, the month to be determined by the customer. If it can be determined that the nature of the water leak was such that the water could not have gotten into the sewer system, the sewer bill shall be adjusted to reflect the normal charge for the period when there is abnormal water usage. Such sewer charge adjustment shall be made for a period of not to exceed three (3) consecutive months and shall be made only when the following conditions are met:
(a) The Department is aware, either through customer notification or internal system monitoring, of abnormal water usage;
(b) Application is made within three (3) months of restored normal usage for an adjustment; and
(c) After notification to the customer of abnormal usage the customer can document that reasonable efforts were made to curtail the abnormal usage.
Property owners are able to receive an adjustment, for sewer only, one time per calendar year for filling their swimming pool in an amount equal to the volume of the swimming pool as long as the drain line does not connect to the city's sewer system.
(3) Sewer rates. The sewer rate charge for normal domestic wastewater is based on the wastewater discharge to the Cookeville Sewer System as measured by the public water supply meter or meters, and/or by any supplementary meter or meters, necessary to measure the amount of water discharged. Property owners must purchase an irrigation meter to prevent charges for sewer usage based on their water consumption through their residential, commercial, or industrial water meter. If a meter fails to register properly, or if a meter is removed to be tested or repaired, or if water is received other than through a meter, the City reserves the right to render an estimated bill based on the best information available. The Control Authority also reserves the right to require metering of any water discharged into the sewer system.
The charges listed below shall be assessed to all users regardless of whether they are serviced by an individual or a master water meter, or regardless of whether they are connected to the sewer as long as sewer service is considered to be available under the conditions set forth in this chapter. The following rates are net:
Effective July 1, 2024–Each residence and place of business within the corporate limits of the City of Cookeville, Tennessee, shall pay the following rates per 1,000 gallons:
Zero usage (base charge) $12.15
All gallons over zero usage $6.62 per 1,000 gallons
Effective July 1, 2025–Each residence and place of business within the corporate limits of the City of Cookeville, Tennessee, shall pay the following rates per 1,000 gallons:
Zero usage (base charge) $13.15
All gallons over zero usage $7.32 per 1,000 gallons
Effective July 1, 2026–Each residence and place of business within the corporate limits of the City of Cookeville, Tennessee, shall pay the following rates per 1,000 gallons:
Zero usage (base charge) $14.15
All gallons over zero usage $7.82 per 1,000 gallons
Effective July 1, 2027–Each residence and place of business within the corporate limits of the City of Cookeville, Tennessee, shall pay the following rates per 1,000 gallons:
Zero usage (base charge) $15.15
All gallons over zero usage $8.30 per 1,000 gallons
(4) Sewer connection charge. Effective March 1, 2023 - Any person desiring to connect to the municipal sewer system shall submit a valid plumbing permit issued by the City of Cookeville Codes Department and pay a connection charge as listed below provided sewer service is available:
Sewer Connection Fee Chart
Inside Outside(1)
Single residence where city $2,200.00 $4,000.00
installed sewer or cost share projects
Single family lot where $500.00 until January N/A
developer installed sewer, 1, 2024, then $1,000
prior to March 1, 2023 after that
Single family lot, including $1,000.00 $2,000.00
townhouse lots, where developer installed sewer on or after March 1, 2023
Multi-residence, apartments $1,000/unit plus the $3,000.00/unit
capacity fee in
subsection (5)(b)
Hotels, motels, nursing $2,200.00 + $600.00 $4,000.00 +
homes per unit $1,000.00 per unit
Office buildings, service $2,200.00 + $600.00 $4,000.00 +
station, garage, retail per restroom $1,000.00 per restroom
store, supermarket
Industrial building $2,200.00 + $600.00 $4,000.00 + $1,000.00
per restroom + per restroom +
$1,800.00/SFU for $1,800.00 per SFU
process water for process water
Restaurants $3,200.00 for up to $6,000.00 for up to 20
20 seats + $60.00/seat seats + $60.00 per
above 20 seat above 20
Schools, daycare, public $2,200.00 + $250.00 $4,000.00 + $250.00
building per restroom per restroom
Self-service laundry $2,200.00 + $250.00 $4,000.00 + $250.00
per washing machine per washing machine
Car wash $2,200.00 + $500.00/ $4,000.00 +$500.00/
wash bay + 8,000.00 wash bay + 12,000.00
per automatic wash bay per automatic wash bay
(1) No properties outside the City limits can be served without City Council approval.
Any sewer connections not listed above shall be computed on an individual basis as deemed necessary by the City of Cookeville. Sewer service shall be considered to be available if a sewer line is within one hundred (100) feet of the customer's property and the living quarters of a residence or the work areas of a commercial or industrial building can be connected. If sewer is available, upon payment of the above charges the Department shall provide a sewer connection at the customer's property line - the point of connection to be determined by the Department. If sewer service is not considered available, the cost to extend sewer to the property shall be paid by the customer.
No sewer main or lateral shall serve property outside the City limits of Cookeville unless approved by the City Council. Any cost of extending the sewer main shall be paid by the customer, except for capital improvement or cost-sharing projects approved by the City Council.
Upon recommendation of the Director, and conditioned upon the availability of departmental funds, the City Council may approve a cost-sharing agreement with the customer to extend a sanitary sewer main. The agreement shall apply only to that section of the sanitary sewer main constructed between the existing sanitary sewer main and a point on the customer's property approved by the Director. The sanitary sewer main extension must comply with the Department's master sewer plan, or the Control Authority must approve the proposed location of the extension. The Director shall contract for the payment by the city of its share of the project costs upon such terms and conditions as the Director deems appropriate.
In subdivisions or developments, where the sewer main has been extended through a cost-sharing agreement, approved by the City Council, the connection charge shall be the full price as noted in § 18-208(4) of the city code.
Capacity for any new development shall be requested in accordance with the City's Capacity Assurance Program (CAP). Based on an evaluation of the CAP Sewer Service Availability Request, the Control Authority may approve or deny a customer's request for sewer service.
If any customer desiring to connect to the sanitary sewer system, by means of new construction, shall fail to connect within one (1) year of paying the sewer connection charge, and the connection charge has increased, the customer shall pay the increased cost.
(5) Sewer Capacity Fees.
(a) Capacity Fees for Subdivisions. Effective March 1, 2023 - The developer for any new subdivision shall pay a sewer capacity fee for any additional lot created that is intended to be connected to sanitary sewer as part of the development. The sewer capacity fee is $1,000.00 per lot. If the subdivision does not require a preliminary plat the developer must pay the capacity fee prior to the final plat being signed by the Department. For all other plats, the developer must pay the capacity fee prior to the preconstruction conference.
If the developer has not reached final plat approval and is required to resubmit the plat, and the capacity fee has increased, he shall pay the City an additional fee for the increase.
In implementing this section, if a development has already had its preconstruction conference prior to the effective date of this section a capacity fee would not be paid except for cases where the development's plat expires after the effective date of this section, and new plat must be submitted.
(b) Capacity fees for apartments. Any builder building apartments shall pay a capacity fee at the time the sewer tap fee is paid. For normal apartments, the capacity fee is $1,000.00 per unit. For co-living apartments, the capacity fee shall be $1,500.00 per unit.
(c) Non-transferable. Any capacity fee paid is for the parcel(s) designated and can not be transferred to any other property.
(6) Holding tank waste dischargers. Private contractors dumping septic tank waste into the wastewater treatment plant shall pay a charge of $25.00 per 1,000 gallons or portions thereof to the city.
Persons dumping other holding tank waste must provide an analysis and pay a charge of $25.00 per 1,000 gallons or portion thereof plus any applicable surcharge as contained in § 18-207.
(7) Other charges. (a) Termination of service. Whenever service has been discontinued by the Department for any reason set forth in this chapter, or a trip is made for the purpose of discontinuing service for any such reasons, a charge of ten dollars ($10.00) will be assessed.
(b) Restoration of service. Whenever service has been discontinued by the Department for any reason set forth in this chapter a charge will be assessed to restore service. This charge will be ten dollars ($10.00) for those trips made before 2:00 p.m., and will be twenty dollars ($20.00) for those trips made after 2:00 p.m. (Ord. #O17-09-17, October 2017, and Ord. #O19-03-01, March 2019, as amended by Ord. #O22-10-24, November 2022, and by Ord. #O24-05-13, June 2024)