Water case to be heard next week

PLAINFIELD – Next week, the Town of Mooresville’s effort to purchase its water system from Indiana American Water Company will be heard by a jury in Danville, Hendricks County Circuit Court. The judge is the Honorable Jeffrey V. Boles. The case was to be heard in Morgan County by Boles, but was moved to Hendricks County.

Attorneys for both sides have been meeting in conferences, and the last exchange between IAWC and Mooresville was heard when IAWC stated that its appraisers valued the property at more than $14 million. Mooresville also had appraisers and raised their first bid from $6.5 million to $7.5 million earlier this spring.

The town began the process of acquiring IAWC, which has owned the water system since 2000, toward the end of 2012 after the water company initiated a substantial rate increase that summer for residential and commercial customers. The Mooresville Town Council and its former president George Watkins worried that Mooresville would be lumped into a new rate group and that customers would pay higher costs, not only for their system, but to help fund projects in other parts of the state. That has not happened yet, and IAWC was denied its most current rate increase request and was asked to cut its costs by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

The Mooresville-Decatur Times will be running stories on the case as they happen in court by reporter Keith Rhoades. These will also appear online and be regularly updated.

By Amy Hillenburg | Reporter | Published May, 31st 2014 in The Reporter Times