After months of wrangling, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to increase water rates by 10% beginning July 1 and then every Jan. 1 thereafter, meaning rates would go up 21% in the next year and would more than double over the next decade.
“The significance of this investment in DeKalb County cannot be overstated,” said Commissioner Robert Patrick, chairman of the public works and infrastructure committee.
The vote comes as DeKalb officials negotiate with state and federal regulators for a 10-year extension to fix the public sewer system, which overflows so often that regulators for the last 15 years have accused the county of violating the Clean Water Act. The county is under a legal agreement, known as a consent decree, that mandates a number of fixes by 2027.
But DeKalb leaders have said they need more time, and another $1.5 billion to comply.
The average residential water and sewer bill in DeKalb County is about $70 per month. By 2034, that will jump to about $182 per month.
The rate increases are estimated to generate an additional $2.2 billion in revenue over the next decade, according to a report from Arcadis, the county’s consultant.
The vote was 5-2, with commissioners Michelle Long Spears and Nicole Massiah dissenting. Spears said she would have preferred to vote on rates over a time frame of three to five years, to avoid saddling future county commissioners and CEOs with the board’s decision. Massiah said the vote did not preclude the county from asking for additional increases.
But all commissioners said the increased revenue would allow the county to make the necessary investments in sewers and the deteriorating drinking water system, which has also suffered from decades of mismanagement and neglect. Some praised CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, who took office Jan. 1, for proposing the increases.
“We have the support to continue on the consent decree, ensuring that we create a community and environment that’s good for future DeKalb, as well as rehabilitating a lot of needs in our water system,” said Maria Houser, the county’s director of consent decree and environmental compliance.
The board unanimously approved policies to mitigate the increases for seniors, people with disabilities and low-income residents, including shut-off protections for qualifying households, an income-based rate structure and an office of water customer advocacy. The board also approved a $450 million bond issue for rehabilitation at the county’s only water treatment facility and other projects.
A new inspector general will audit the county’s $4 billion water and sewer capital improvement program.
The longer term of the rate increases could enable the county to save money on large, lengthy contracts and lock in prices against inflation, Commissioner Ted Terry said.
“DeKalb County is expanding the oversight and accountability for what is a very big and very long project,” he said. “The longer we wait to invest in our water and sewer system, the more expensive it will be.”
DeKalb’s 10-year capital improvement program for the water and sewer systems was most recently estimated to cost more than $4 billion.
The county last increased rates three years ago by 6%.
“We cannot afford to kick the can down the road any longer,” Cochran-Johnson said in a news release. “This is our moment to secure a better future for DeKalb County. I am prepared to make the tough decisions necessary to protect our residents, create economic opportunities and ensure we leave a legacy of strong infrastructure for the next generation.”
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