By Will Pafford, Staff Writer

West Lake Hills is taking the first steps toward buying the city’s new wastewater system from the Lower Colorado River Authority, which currently owns and operates the system. 

The West Lake Hills City Council authorized Mayor Dave Claunch to make an initial offer to the LCRA during its meeting on June 24. 

The city’s offer is essentially what the city owes in debt to the LCRA for the system, Claunch said, which is between $16 million and $17 million. 

While the city is working to negotiate ownership of the system with the LCRA, it is also pursuing other financing options. 

These options include obtaining a low-interest loan from the Texas Water Development Board, issuing municipal bonds or securing a loan from a private bank. 

“We’ve analyzed all three options and they are all three less expensive than our current arrangement with the LCRA,” Claunch said. 

The city has already applied for the loan with the TWDB and expects to hear whether it will receive the loan late this year or early 2010, Claunch said. 

By taking ownership of the system, the city would save ratepayers from increased expenses. 

“Any of the three options would allow us to avoid future rate increases for our wastewater customers,” he said. 

Claunch said the ownership agreement could save customers millions of dollars during the next few decades. 

If the city is successful in buying the system, it would need to secure a third party to operate and maintain the sewer lines. 

“We’re confident that we can find an operator who can do it more cost-effectively than the LCRA,” Claunch said. 

Claunch said the city has paid the LCRA a significant amount in fees and other payments, and he is hopeful the city and LCRA can reach a fair agreement that will allow the city to take over the system and run it more cost-effectively. 

“We’ll pay them what we owe and then we’ll go our separate ways,” he said.