DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — People in Dekalb County could soon be paying more for their water and sewer services.
County leaders are proposing a rate increase and are holding town halls to inform the public.
They held the first of three meetings on Monday night at Dunwoody City Hall.
“Ten years at 10 percent, so in a 10-year period, whatever your current water bill may be, you can expect to see it increase in 10 years by 100 percent,” Dekalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson told Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers.
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The county has been under a federal Modified Consent Decree since 2011. Leaders said the county failed to meet reporting deadlines under the decree and are now at risk of missing upcoming compliance deadlines, so they need more money to complete the required projects.
They said this plan will give the county about $4 million.
“It’s just time we make an investment in our infrastructure because it’s critical,” Cochran-Johnson said.
Lately, the county has seen several water main breaks.
“Because of the age of our infrastructure we’re experiencing in the neighborhood of 980 water main breaks annually, on average that’s about three per day,” Cochran-Johnson said.
People are feeling the impact of the failing infrastructure.
“We have had water main issues from the meter to our house essentially every 3 to 5 years that cost us $2-5,000 every time to repair,” said Bob Bolden, who lives in South Dekalb County. “In the last 16 years, I’ve had six times where I’ve spoken to the county where I said these things don’t happen, it must be a pressure increase, and for five years I was told it’s not a pressure increase, well now they’ve admitted it was a pressure increase problem.”
Leaders say they plan to start with fixing priority areas. They will use loans and grants to fund the projects, and the rate increase will help the county repay their loans.
Some neighbors who attended the meeting said they want to ensure people in all parts of the county are benefitting from the upgrades, not just people in the northern part of the county.
“I’m all for investment, but I’m concerned about the equity issue,” said Gina Mangham who lives in South Dekalb County. “Maybe there should be some provision that if we pay our fair share, then we’re going to start getting our fair share of investment, that is dependent on this 10% water increase.”
The county says there is also a $1 million investment in Dekalb Cares to help families who may be disproportionately impacted by the increase.
“Individuals with certain sensitive household incomes can actually receive assistance through grant funding to offset the rise in costs,” Cochran-Johnson said.
The Board of Commissioners will vote on the rate increase. However, the CEO didn’t know when that vote would be. She said if the board votes to approve the increase, people could see their water bills increase by June or July of this year.
The next town hall is Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. at the Reid H. Cofer Library in Tucker.
On Wednesday, the meeting will be at the same time at the Porter Sanford Performing Arts Center located at 3181 Rainbow Drive in Decatur.
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