Decatur asking for tariff relief from the White House
President Donald Trump's 145% tariffs on Chinese goods are posing as a problem for one city’s wastewater treatment plant upgrade.
Bob Tharp, mayor of Decatur, sent a letter to Trump asking for relief from those newly imposed tariffs.
Tharp states that the city actually had enough money budgeted to upgrade their wastewater treatment plant but after the implementation of president trump's tariffs on Chinese goods, they came to find out that they were actually about $2.5 million short.
According to the mayor, unlike any other city in Arkansas, Decatur uses membranes in their plant which is a filtration device for their wastewater.
“Membranes are like spaghetti, and they've got holes in the middle. And you transfer water wastewater through those holes. And it's a great, great medium for making our creeks clean. And of course, we we discharge into Spavinaw so it’s important to us,” Tharp said.
These membranes aren't made in the U.S., according to Tharp, and Decatur is the only city in Arkansas that uses them to treat wastewater.
“It made sense at the time. you get a really good water quality up to the creek, and it was really cheaper than expanding the plant at that time,” said James Boston, the public works manager.
The city had decided it was time to upgrade and put plans in motion to purchase more membranes but Tharp says when it was time to foot the bill the numbers were higher than expected.
“We ordered more membranes. They were going to come in at $3.25 million. That's a lot of money out of the $6 million budget," Tharp said. "We're going to spend $2.5 million more out of that six because of tariffs.”
Without the money budgeted for the new price, Tharp sent two letters to the White House, in hopes for some relief. However, the president hasn't responded.
Tharp said because the city of Decatur, Centerton, and one of the area’s longtime customers, Simmons Prepared Foods, depend on the town's wastewater the lack of response from the White House isn't stopping him.
“Houses in Centerton and Decatur that have been designed and developed by contractors are not getting a permit from the health department until we get our plant going. We're not going to stop. It'll be done one way or the other has to be done,” Tharp said.