Cedartown discusses water fees

The commission began a conversation about the city’s water fees and a potential increase in what customers are paying for a base rate of water during a recent commission work session.

The Dec. 4 work session supplied only an opportunity to talk out any worries or troubles involved with amending the rates.

“It is something that we need to look at,” city manager Bill Fann said. “There’s been no changes in the rate structure since 2010, and we have one of the lowest base rates in the area.”

Currently, Cedartown residents pay $10 for the first 500 cubic feet of water and an additional $2.24 for every extra 100 cubic feet.

Rockmart customers pay $8.84 per cubic foot with an additional $3.31 per 100 cubic feet of water, and Polk County customers pay $14.19 for 267 cubic feet of water with an additional $4.60 for every 100 cubic feet used.

“267 cubic feet is the base rate standard for all of the other 6 entities here,” Fann said. “Polk County, Bremen, Rockmart, Cave Springs, Tallapoosa. That 267 cubic feet amounts to 2,000 gallons. Our base rate is for 500 cubic feet which is 3,740 gallons.”

Cedartown customers are paying a similar price as the other local entities for nearly double the water neighboring areas receive.

“Just changing the base rate to 2,000 instead of 3,740 would make a difference leaving everything else the same,” Fann said.

Commissioners provided no comment so far, and no rate changes are anticipated in the near future. Fann said they did ask for more information about the issue as to the exact cost for each customer class and other options that might be available instead of rate increase.

Fann wanted the discussion because water and wastewater revenues have been down 14 percent for 2017, while expenses to treat water and wastewater have gone up about 7 percent over the same period.