The City of Rollingwood sent a letter to the Lower Colorado River Authority on Jan. 31 making a $10.61 million offer to purchase its wastewater system.

Rollingwood City Council advised Mayor Bill Hamilton to write a letter to the LCRA offering to purchase the system—the amount of outstanding debt the LCRA has on the system—at a special-called meeting Jan. 26. This amount would be subject to voter approval of the issuance of bonds and a purchase agreement acceptable to the Rollingwood City Council.

"Throughout the process, I have taken the viewpoint toward always maximizing any options so that we as a city are ultimately in control of our destiny with regard to ownership and operations of the Rollingwood wastewater system," Hamilton wrote in a Jan. 17 letter to the LCRA.

A Jan. 20 letter from the LCRA to Hamilton says that the LCRA is interested in discussing the next steps of how Rollingwood could potentially purchase the system. LCRA spokesman John Williams said Feb. 3 that talks between LCRA and Rollingwood officials are continuing.

The LCRA announced the sale of its 32 water and wastewater systems in 2010, saying the utilities cannot support themselves financially, leading to significant annual shortfalls. The LCRA later decided not to sell five systems, including the system that covers Rollingwood, though it is negotiating with an outside company to provide maintenance and operations of the systems, according to Hamilton's letter.

"My personal preference, which I will recommend to our council, is that our system operations not be outsourced to a third party," Hamilton's letter says.

The Rollingwood Wastewater System, completed in 2004, serves approximately 2,330 people.