Proposed Utility Rate System Fairer than Last

Be advised these are my comments and are not intended to officially represent those of the City of Powder Springs or the other Council Members.

Everyone wants transparency and the “truth”, so here it is and remember- sometimes the truth hurts. First as reported recently by Mr. Bevirt, the City did receive a rate increase in January from Cobb County for water and sewer and no increase has occurred yet.

We, the council, asked for a study to be done by the City Water Department and . It was found that, , the cost of water increases had been passed on in previous years but the rising cost of maintenance to the system and administration had not been passed on.

This, with water rate increases, is causing a $30,000 loss a month in the water and sewer department. This is currently being covered by reserves, which are needed to cover repairs should a catastrophic or major pipe failure occur.

Furthermore, the City has already been on a tiered system for the past years as mandated by the past Governors’ Water Conservation Act. However, one issue was discovered; that being that common citizens like you and I were paying a higher tier rate than businesses, so in a since we were subsidizing the water costs for all the businesses in town.

Also, Mr. Bevirt was correct. The water and sewer infrastructure (pipes) are aging and will need costly repairs in the future. If we as City Officials do not make hard decisions now, then in years to come we may be like the City of Atlanta who is struggling to keep service to their customers at times and paying costly repairs or fines for pipe failures.

So the new proposed plan that will be voted on this coming Monday. It is based on the REU system- each home is 1 REU (Residential Equivalent Unit) for water and sewer services and businesses REU’s are calculated on maximum water usage, using a proven calculation formula, usually they are charged multiple REU’s.

This system has been used by other Cities already, so it’s new for us but not a new concept. The REU covers billing, administration, maintenance and bond debt owed by the City.

The REU system was previously explained quite well by Editor Michael Stone, . This amount will be $5.16 for water and $7.44 for sewer a month, and then you will pay for the water you use on a tiered system, the more you use the more you pay.

This will be fairer than our current billing system where every residential water customer pays a base Administration fee and for 2000 gallons of water a month whether you use it or not.

The new system, if voted in, should benefit the smaller homes and those on fixed income who use less water. Some may see their water and sewer bills decrease, some high water users will see their bills increase.

Commercial water rates will increase more substantially than residential. Why? Well, they are accessed more REU’s and are now on the same tier system as everyone else in the city and businesses tend to use more water.

So what does this mean to the citizens? You will no longer subsidize the water cost for all the businesses in town, however you may pay a few cents more at the local businesses you go to if they pass on their cost. Again to me, this seems fairer than the old system.