Carly Farrell
AMERICUS — Americus homeowners’ and renters’ water bills most likely be raised by $4 per month on average soon.
The City has determined there are at least 67 problematic areas that need to be repaired so flooding stops occurring after it rains, and can’t afford to do so without raising water rates.
City officials contracted with Ecological Solutions in Roswell, which then sub-contracted with Ecological Planning Group, which has offices in Roswell and Savannah, to plan out exactly which projects were the most in need of fixing. Senior Water Quality Program Manager Ronald Feldner with Ecological Solutions and Senior Geographic Information System Analyst Mike Baggett with Ecological Planning Group, along with Americus Mayor Barry Blount and a few Americus City Council members, held a town hall meeting Monday to discuss the rate increase.
The City found the need for 12 drainage capital improvement projects (CIP), which will cost around $1.8 million; 15 water quality CIP, which will cost the City $1.95 million and 40 drainage system operation and maintenance projects, which will cost Americus $500,000, which, when totaled, comes to $4.2 million.
These projects are focused primarily on government-owned land, but will directly benefit homeowners down-stream from government-owned land, Feldner said.
In Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08,) Feldner said the cost of service (COS) was $425,000, but the future COS to repair and maintain everything, would be $820,000, which is based on a five-year average.
That number was based on a coordination increase of $76,000, an operation and maintenance increase of $65,000 and a CIP increase of $287,000. That’s an 82 percent increase in operation and maintenance and CIP. But, most of the money would be used for labor and parts, Feldner said, “not for people pushing paper in an office.”
The City has considered several scenarios, and decided this option would be best because it allows all types of buildings to be billed for such storm water drainage.
Schools and churches aren’t required to pay property taxes, so raising taxes would require homeowners to pay more for this project.
This system takes into account how many square feet of impervious areas a building has, and the bills are determined as such. For instance, Americus’ Wal-Mart; since it has a paved parking lot and thousands of square feet of roof space, its bill will be a lot higher than the normal homeowner’s bill.
The lowest addition an Americus resident will have is $2, but the City is going on a case-by-case basis.
Over the next nine to 12 months, the City would like to focus on repairing and maintaining drainage pipes, repairing road washouts and problematic flooding areas, focus on capital improvements and project implementations, focus on water quality management and public education, maintain regulatory compliance and look to future development issues.
As for choosing projects, the City will be focusing on recurring flooding problems, drainage system operation and maintenance, flood plain management, regulatory compliance, a watershed protection plan, reducing future problems, lowering cost to customers versus tax levy and future capital project funding and implementation, among others.
If a person is renting from a landlord, their water bills may or may not go up, according to how water is billed to the renter.
There will be credit options, where a customer can get a discount on their bill. For instance, if a customer can prove they have a storm water ditch on their property where rain can drain when it storms, they may have be eligible for a discount. Also, if a customer sets up a rain barrel under a gutter and sprinkles the collected water on their garden the next day, they could be eligible for a discount.
One man asked why the City was considering raising taxes in such a bad economy.
Feldner responded that the City has needs, and there are only certain places things like grants and federal stimulus money can go. Most of the time, Feldner said, that type of money can’t be used to provide maintenance on an existing system.
The benefits residents will see will be improved drainage system operation, reduced flooding, cleaner water in streams, creeks and the Flint River and enhanced planning, inspection and enforcement efforts related to City drainage projects and issues.
The City Council hasn’t voted on the increase yet, and will not until after the next public forum is held at 6:30 p.m. April 19 at the Rees Park Economic Development Center.
For more information, call Bernard Kendrick, director of Americus’ public works, at 924-7111.
