By Verna Slate, Williamson County Bureau
JOHNSTON CITY, Ill. — Williamson County has a sewer system it wants gone, and it's asking Johnston City to take the deed by New Year's.
The county is pushing to hand over the Whiteash sewer system to the city by the end of the year, according to the Southern Illinoisan. It's the kind of request that sounds simple on paper — pipes are pipes — until somebody has to pay to keep them running.
Johnston City officials aren't saying no. They're saying: not until we know what it costs. City leaders told the paper they need to determine what the move would cost before agreeing to the county's proposal, and that's a fair question in a small town that has to answer for every dollar at budget time.
Sewer systems don't announce their problems until they become expensive ones — a cracked line, a lift station on its last legs, a bill nobody budgeted for. Handing over infrastructure without knowing its condition is how small towns end up holding a bag they didn't pack.
No timeline for a decision has been reported. But the clock the county set — end of the year — means this is a conversation Johnston City's council will be having again soon, likely in public, likely with residents asking who pays if something breaks.
— Compiled from reporting by the Southern Illinoisan.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."