With an eye to the future – and in preparation for growth – the Eatonton-Putnam Water and Sewer Authority (EPWSA) board last week raised customers’ water and sewer rates by 4 percent for next year and held a lengthy discussion over a hefty “service delivery charge” for new customers.
The board accepted the recommendation of Athens-based Nelnick and Associates for the 4-percent rate increase, based on a 2024 operations budget of $4.66 million.
The math works out, but that recommendation included not only the Sinclair Water Authority’s 6-percent rate increase to Putnam and Baldwin counties but also funding toward EPWSA’s long-range $25 million capital improvements project list and beginning a service delivery charge for new customers.
The possibility of a service delivery charge for new customers was tabled until the board’s January meeting, but the discussion pointed to a decision, not so much on if, but how much. The Nelnick recommendation would add about $3,000 to the cost of a new home, which most likely would be added to its sales price.
A one-time service delivery charge – aka “impact fee” – would differ from the current “tap fee” charged to existing residents to connect onto existing water (or sewer) mains. The tap fee solely considers the labor and materials to make the connection, according to ESG project manager Brice Doolittle.
EPWSA’s current tap fee is $1,100 for a 3/4-inch or 1-inch water line to a residential property. Tap fees for larger lines serving commercial and industrial properties are considerably higher.
However, an additional service delivery fee, if approved, would take into account the increased demand – and thus, lost capacity – taken out of the system. Cost estimates for enlarging or replacing water treatment plants are not cheap, and even more so for sewer treatment plants.
A new, 3-million-gallons- a-day (mgd) water treatment plant could cost $20 million to build today and $40 million for a 3-mgd sewage treatment plant, according to Doolittle. The Sinclair Water Authority’s water treatment plant (which cost about $10 million two decades ago) produces about 6 mgd for two counties and its board is already looking into a small increase in capacity at a more reasonable cost.
“We haven’t looked at future growth,” EPWSA board member Judd Doster said. “It seems to me that we have two choices – wait and jack up paying huge costs all at once or spread it out over time … we are selling capacity, and we can only sell it once.”
“The longer we wait, the deeper in the hole we’ll be,” chairman Bill Sharp added.
More immediate issues also drew attention. If demand on the water (and sewer) system capacity remains the central issue, each unit in new apartment complexes would likely carry a separate service delivery charge.
The idea is that an apartment would have the same uses, from washing dishes to washing cars, as a house.
However, hotels are temporary residences, are not filled every night, and have limited water/ sewer demands (showers/ toilets).
Thus, the proposed service delivery charge for some new commercial and industrial properties would be negotiable, depending on their water demand.