The Saraland Water & Sewer Service (“SWSS”) has received recent client inquiries regarding a $5 out of district fee (“Fee”) that has been added to their monthly water bills from the Turnerville Water and Kushla Water Districts. SWSS provides sewer collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal services to communities that are outside of the SWSS water district boundaries, specifically the water districts serviced by the Turnerville Water and Kushla Water Districts. As a result, some residents of Turnerville and Kushla receive water services from their respective water providers but receive sewer related services from SWSS. These SWSS “out of district” customers are billed by their respective water providers for water usage and also collect sewer related fees for SWSS.
The Fee on the SWSS customers’ bills are “out of district” in an effort to recover costs to SWSS in servicing customers outside of the SWSS’s water district. The costs covered in this fee include, but are not limited to, (i) the SWSS’s recoupment of charges paid to Turnerville Water and Kushla Water District for the billing of SWSS’s sewer services, (ii) the costs of laying additional pipelines to service out of district customers, (iii) maintenance and professional support service costs for providing services to those outside of SWSS’s district, and (iv) additional administrative costs incurred by SWSS in providing sewer services to customers outside of their district.
If you have any questions regarding the Fee, please contact the SWSS office at 251-675-5126. The SWSS Board of Directors meet bi-monthly on the first and third Thursday of each month at 233 Shelton Beach Road, Saraland, Alabama 36571.