In 2017, Fulton County saw a five percent increase in their water rates (approved through 2019); those funds were earmarked for infrastructure improvements. Now, another round of increases is on the horizon. Over the next three years, a four percent increase is proposed to cover the cost of expanding the Big Creek treatment plant which came in at a price of $50 million higher than anticipated. According to David Clark, Fulton’s public works director, the plant must be expanded from 24 million gallons per day to 38 million gallons per day, “or the county’s sewage system would not be able to support new development or redevelopment in north Fulton.”[1] The work done in the expansion will also improve the capability of the plant to produce cleaner water that is ultimately discharged into the Chattahoochee River.
For most county residents, this will mean an increase of $20 a month in 2022 from the amount they paid in 2017, and the possibility of another rate hike in the future can’t be ruled out. According to Clark, the county will revisit the issue of rates again in three years. By that time, the Big Creek Treatment plant will be complete, but there is a likelihood that improvements will be necessary at another treatment facility.
[1] Kass, Arielle. “Fulton County Proposes Raising Water Rates for the next Three Years.” Ajc, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6 Sept. 2019, www.ajc.com/news/local/fulton-county-proposes-raising-water-rates-for-the-next-three years/RJc6b56QV92BM1i2gkAkxH/#.
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