• Dismissal of all sewer-system-related suits involving the county and warrant holders.

• Proposed legislation on the state’s “moral obligation” pledge to stand behind the new debt and work out a solution to the county’s general-fund debt, which has caused more than 500 layoffs after an occupational tax was declared unconstitutional.

• Mandatory sewer hookups for new construction within specific distances from existing lines and for failed septic tanks.

Commissioners’ reaction—and opposition—centered on the rate proposals, the GUSC and dismissal of lawsuits.

In one scenario, rates would rise 7.8% on Oct. 1, again next spring and again in another year.

“When you take into account how the rates were to be implemented, you end up with roughly a 25% increase in the first 18 months,” Stephens said.

This hike was a problem for Stephens, Knight, Commissioner Sandra Little Brown and Commissioner George Bowman, who called it “excessive.”

“There has been a 329% [rate] increase over the last decade,” Stephens said, saying that rates have not been increased for the past three years but remain "some of the highest rates in the country.”

If the GUSC is set up, “we transfer control of the sewer system to an outside organization … we have no control of rates, no control of anything we do,” Bowman said.

The move would be giving away “the county’s biggest asset,” he said.

The county took on the sewer debt after reaching a 1997 consent agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency that mandated a sewer-system overhaul, including nine wastewater treatment plants, after it was found to be polluting the Cahaba and Black Warrior rivers.

The consent agreement became mired in a bribery and corruption scandal that resulted in the convictions of 26 individuals—and sentences from probation to 15 years—and five businesses, which paid fines or restitution totaling about $48 million.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the lead financier, paid $75 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission and forfeited $647 million in fees in a “pay to play” deal.

Many residents, Bowman said, do not realize litigation and investigations are continuing.

“It’s clear that fraud, corruption and illegal activities were rampant throughout our bond activities and transactions,” Bowman told the commission. “We need to hold their feet to the fire and hold them totally responsible.”

The commission has been considering bankruptcy for several months and has hired the Los Angeles-based firm Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP.