Sewer bills
likely to triple in 5 years
Atlanta council to vote on increases Nov.
19
Atlanta will likely have to triple sewer rates over the next five
years to pay for a massive $3 billion overhaul of its sewerage
system.
Consultants say Atlanta needs 45 percent rate
increases in 2004 and in 2005, plus 11 percent increases in each of the
three following years. On top of the whopping rate increases, they say
Atlanta should add a $1.20 a month surcharge to pay for security
measures.
The average residential bill for water and sewer
service would jump from about $60 a month to $172 after five years. That
would make the city's sewer service by far the most expensive in the
Atlanta area and perhaps the nation.
Grant Park resident Hugh Sawyer said such massive
increases would drive people out of Atlanta. "I am actively making
arrangements to leave the city," he said. "I don't see our problems
getting fixed. I don't see any hope here."
Sawyer said he employs conservation measures that
keep his home's monthly bill about $40. That low-use rate would jump to
$115 over five years under the city's plan.
"I'm curious, who's going to be able to pay
this?" he asked.
Mayor Shirley Franklin will propose the rate
increases to the City Council, which she hopes will make a final decision
Nov. 19. All five years of increases would be approved at the same
time.
Residents and businesses from south Fulton County
to Sandy Springs use city water and sewer services. They could see the
first rate increase Jan. 1.
Franklin said she is trying to get the federal
and state governments to help Atlantans shoulder the financial burden. But
to date, she has been unsuccessful.
"These increases are really draconian," the mayor
said. "They will put the city at risk of being unaffordable. This is an
emergency situation."
Franklin contended such high water and sewer
bills could drive businesses out of the city and halt new projects in
their tracks. For example, the $27,000-a-month bill for a downtown hotel
would soar to $77,000 a month after five years.
Mayor to seek voter backing
The mayor will have a news conference today to
encourage Atlanta residents, business owners and political leaders to
support the quest for federal and state assistance.
She stressed her intentions Monday while
celebrating the one-year anniversary of Clean Water Atlanta, her program
to fix the city's water and sewer systems.
"I was sure when I heard about the president
talking about $87 billion to rebuild Iraq, he was going to include $1
billion for Atlanta," Franklin said before descending into the $140
million Nancy Creek sewer tunnel for an inspection tour.
The rate increases suggested by the consulting
firm Black & Veatch are based on Atlanta receiving no outside
financial assistance to pay for a $3 billion sewer overhaul. Franklin has
asked for $1 billion in federal funds and $1 billion in state help.
Much of the work is required by two federal
consent decrees that Atlanta signed after government regulators,
environmentalists and downstream jurisdictions sued the city because of
pollution from leaking pipes. The sewage overflow, especially in heavy
rains, has created major pollution problems for towns south of Atlanta
along the Chattahoochee River.
Mayor wants expansion
Atlanta's failure to hit some of its targets for
repairs has resulted in $4.1 million in fines. The city has also had to
pay nearly $300,000 in fines to the state since the beginning of 1999 for
spills of raw and partially treated sewage.
Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper environmental group, was a plaintiff in the
original lawsuit that forced Atlanta to comply with federal clean water
guidelines. She said Monday that only about $1.5 billion or $1.8 billion
of the work is mandated by the consent decrees.
"I still believe this is the worst-case
scenario," Bethea said. "We will find [financial] help."
The $3 billion overhaul, which would add sewers
for future growth, goes beyond what the federal government requires. But
development is limited across much of the city because of its inability to
handle the sewage, which is why the city wants to add capacity.
Franklin said the city could do just the work
required by the federal government. However, any program that doesn't
expand the sewer network would be "shortsighted," she said.
Lobbying to council begins
The Franklin administration plans to make a case
for the rate increases to the City Council in a retreat Thursday and to
the council's Utilities Committee today. Eight votes are needed on the
15-member council to adopt the rate increases.
There have already been increases in city
property taxes and garbage fees, and a new tax for dealing with storm
water is planned. And the higher sewer rates don't account for about $800
million in water pipe improvements.
"If this is not the story of the year, I don't
know what is," said Councilman Howard Shook, vice chairman of the
Utilities Committee. "It's stupefying. It begs a ton of questions."
Councilman C.T. Martin said the rate increase
will be a tough sell. "Some people will understand," he said. "Some will
not. It's time for us to fish or cut bait."
If the mayor can't get the council to OK the
higher rates, the city won't be able to fund the sewer program.
State and federal officials have declined to say
what they will do if the city balks. But in the past, the federal
government has hit Atlanta with huge fines for failing to fix its sewers.
Federal lawyers could return to court to force the city to comply.
Environmentalists have dogged the project for
years to force the city to separate the 330 miles of pipes downtown that
carry both storm water and sewage.
Atlanta's plan calls for separating less than a
third of those pipes and for building deep tunnels to handle the
spillover.
"The plan is still a bad plan no matter how it's
funded," said activist Steve Carr.
Desperate downstream
The price of clean water is going up for everyone
in metro Atlanta's 16-county water district. Officials estimate it will
cost at least $40 billion over the next 30 years to add sewage capacity
for at least 2 million more people.
And that doesn't solve the Chattahoochee's
biggest problem: dirty rainwater. The water district estimates it will
cost an additional $20 billion over 30 years to store and clean up the
grease and grime in the rainwater that washes over streets, parking lots
and lawns.
Downstream users say they are already paying a
price.
Pete Frost, executive director of the
Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority, said the
Chattahoochee is so polluted the authority has never been able to withdraw
drinking water from it.
"We happen to be immediately downstream from the
city of Atlanta and some of the other large dischargers, and because of
that, the poorest water quality in the Chattahoochee is right now along
the Douglas County borders," Frost said.
Last year, Mayor Franklin took her message to the
Rotary Club in LaGrange, a city along West Point Lake, the collection
point for Atlanta's sewage.
Although conditions have gotten significantly
better as Atlanta makes sewer repairs, the lake still sometimes suffers
from algae blooms and raw sewage washing up along its banks. It's not
always Atlanta's fault, but the finger-pointing usually starts
there.
Franklin told the Rotarians she is committed to
fixing the problems so West Point would no longer have to deal with the
aftermath.
"Every person I've talked to about that speech
says we have a friend in the mayor's office in Atlanta," said Art
Holbrook, a retired dentist who lobbies for West Point Lake.
BYLINE: D.L.
BENNETT, STACY SHELTON
DATE:
October 14, 2003
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The
(GA)
