This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, December 10th, 2025.

In today’s newscast, Correspondent Catherine Terwilliger speaks with Community Organizer Michelle Higgs, who previously ran for Indiana House District 60. Higgs says the mid-cycle redistricting effort would prevent proper representation for Hoosiers. That’s coming up in today’s featured interview.

Also coming up in the next half hour, “Phone-y voicemails” on Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on the WFHB Local News.

Council Advances Corey Drive Annexation, Rejects 300% Hauler Rate Hike

The Bloomington City Council met on December 3 and discussed the voluntary annexation of 2005 West Corey Drive and its associated fiscal plan.

The property owner hopes to build a duplex on the currently undeveloped lot and is seeking annexation to access city sewer and water services. Sewer and water lines already run along the street, and the owner would cover the cost of connecting the new duplex to those utilities.

According to Assistant City Attorney Chris Wheeler, annexing the property would not result in any significant positive or negative fiscal impact for the city.

Wheeler said the city would see a slight positive fiscal impact by adding the property to its tax base. He noted that the annexation would not result in any costs for the city.

However, Corey Drive resident Jay Nelson argued that the city is looking at the annexation the wrong way, since there is no evidence the land can be developed.

Nelson said it doesn’t make sense to annex the property when the entire street is not being annexed. He also expressed concern that the annexation could place added strain on the Bloomington police and fire departments.

The council approved the fiscal plan, and the annexation will be voted on at its next meeting.

Next, the council discussed amending Title 10 of the Bloomington Municipal Code, a change that would raise septic hauler rates by nearly 300 percent.

Utilities Director Katherine Zaiger presented an amendment to billing rates for wastewater haulers, saying the adjustment is intended to align rates more closely with the actual cost of treating wastewater.

Utilities Service Pretreatment Program Coordinator Steven Stanford noted that Bloomington’s comparatively low wastewater treatment rates attract haulers from as far away as Indianapolis and Ohio. He said the rates have not been updated in more than 25 years. In that time, the cost to treat a gallon of wastewater has risen to 17 cents. The proposed update would increase in-county rates from 2 cents to 8 cents per gallon, and out-of-county rates from 6 cents to 8 cents per gallon.

Stanford said grease waste customers could expect a larger increase of about 84 dollars per year.

Council member Dave Rollo questioned why out-of-county rates would not be set higher, noting that the relatively low cost could continue to incentivize haulers from outside the county to bring wastewater to Bloomington.

Zaiger responded that Lake Monroe, which supplies water for Bloomington’s wastewater treatment plant, is located partly outside the county. She said Bloomington Utilities does not want to raise rates so high that it discourages residents within the watershed from properly maintaining and pumping their septic systems. Zaiger added that the proposed increase should still make Bloomington’s rates less attractive to long-distance haulers.

During public comment, Courtney Medley from Medley Septic Service highlighted that out-of-county haulers are often in-county haulers bringing waste from surrounding counties. She says Bloomington is the local dumpsite.

Medley said due to mixed loads of in-and-out-of-county hauls, in-county residents are charged out-of-county prices.

Zaiger said the rate increase from 2 to 8 cents per gallon to haulers doesn’t mean residents will see the same rate increase.

Attorney Wheeler said there is a legal obligation to know the cost of services provided and a requirement to charge a break-even rate.

Wheeler said the current low rate for haulers has likely been subsidized by the rates paid by Bloomington Utilities’ sewer customers.

Jennifer Wilson from Crowe, the firm that conducted the wastewater study, said increasing the rates for haulers would have little impact on the customers who are currently subsidizing them.

She said her expectation is that rates would decrease by a very small amount for the current sewer customers.

Jeff Todd with Todd Septic in Bloomington shared his concerns with raising rates for haulers.

He suggested there be a separate rate for customers with holding tanks than for septage. Other holding tank users came forward to agree with Todd. Jerry Jackson from Spring Wilderness Campground opposed the rate hike.

Council member Andy Ruff says the motion is implementing too high of an increase.

The council decided the motion needs more work to distinguish between the different services, and the motion failed.

The next Bloomington City Council meeting will be on December 17th.

Feature Report:

On Monday, the Indiana Senate Elections Committee voted 6-3 to advance a controversial proposed map of congressional seats. This is part of a broader GOP push to redistrict states ahead of the midterm elections.

In today’s featured interview, WFHB Correspondent Catherine Terwilliger speaks with Community Organizer Michelle Higgs, who ran for the Indiana House District 60 in 2024. Higgs says this proposal would rob Indiana voters from proper representation. For more, we turn to Catherine Terwilliger.

Up next – “Phone-y voicemails” on Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on the WFHB Local News. We turn to host and producer Richard Fish for more.

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