Council committee approves water/sewer deadline extension
Atlanta’s sewer and water rates are some of the highest in the nation. An agreement approved by a city council committee today would keep those rates the same for an extra 13 years.
The federally mandated upgrade of Atlanta’s water and sewer system costs $4 billion. Most of the work so far has been to fix the sewer system. There’s still $445 million dollars in repairs to the entire system. The agreement between the city and the federal government includes a plan to cover that cost.
City chief financial officer Jim Beard says Atlantans will still see the high price tag of the repairs reflected on their water and sewer bills.
“Unfortunately, with all the work that’s still required on both the water and wastewater side, consent decree and non-consent decree side, I have to be honest and say I don’t see a downward mitigation of rates in the near term,” said Beard.
However, some of the upgrade cost will continue to come from a penny sales tax on goods and services sold in Atlanta.
The full city council could vote on the proposed agreement next week.
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