DeKalb CEO calls for water, sewer rate increases

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer is seeking a water and sewer rate increase but has not yet said how much more residents would have to pay.

CEO Michael Thurmond told county commissioners Tuesday that he will make a formal proposal with more details in the next two weeks.

Thurmond told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims this is not a reaction to the water crisis in Atlanta, but a continuation of investments the county has made since he took office in 2017.

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He told commissioners that in the past seven-and-a-half years, the county has spent more than $520 million in shoring up its water infrastructure, with 91 miles of water lines rehabilitated.

The most urgent need now, he said, is making upgrades to the 82-year-old Scott Candler water treatment plant, the county’s only water treatment facility.

“We have a three-to-five-year window to make investments in the Scott Candler water treatment plant or else we risk a catastrophic failure,” he told commissioners.

It’s estimated to cost $250 million to improve the plant along Winters Chapel Road.

DeKalb County has about 3,000 miles of water pipes.

Thurmond said about a third of the lines need to be replaced in the next decade.

To rebuild all of the county’s aging pipes and make upgrades to the water treatment plant would cost about $6 billion, he said.

“The challenge in our political environment is that the pipes are buried underground,” Thurmond said. “And you don’t really think about them unless or until something is broken.”

He declined to offer specifics about how much more residents will pay under his plan to boost water and sewer rates.

“What we’re doing is we’re weighing the need versus the ability of residents to pay,” he said. “We know that we’re in an inflationary environment, we’re looking at options to somehow mitigate the burden, particularly for low-income ratepayers.”

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This would be the first water and sewer rate increase in two years.

In the last raise, the county boosted the rate by 6 percent.

Before that, Thurmond said, the county had gone 14 years without a rate increase.

“Number one, we’ve earned, I believe, the confidence of our ratepayers, but more importantly there is so much work that needs to be done,” he said.

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