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City enters final phase of stormwater startup

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Property owners in Peachtree City could start receiving bills to fund a new Stormwater Utility in February 2006, now that the City Council has voted to proceed to the final phase of setting up the program.

In a meeting last week, the council heard an update on the progress of the Stormwater Utility and authorized $175,000 in funding to get the program off and running.

The funds were already allocated within the city’s 2005 budget specifically for that purpose, said City Manager Bernard McMullen.

A consultant hired in May, 2003, Integrated Science and Engineering, had completed Phase 3 of the process, which included Utility Data Development.

That included categorizing all land parcels in the city according to their use, as either residential, commercial or industrial.

In order to determine a fair “average” bill to charge all residential customers, for example, the consultant Ronald Feldner came up with an average lot size in the city of 4,100 square feet.

All homeowners will be billed $3.95 per month based on that average lot size, Feldner reported, or roughly $48 per year.

That amount falls about in the middle of what homeowners are charged in other Georgia cities that already have Stormwater Utilities in place.

For example, Decatur charges its homeowners $5 per month, while Fayetteville charges just $2.95.

Businesses, which include more non-impervious surfaces like parking lots for runoff, will be billed at a much higher rate. For example, Kroger’s stormwater bill would be in excess of $200 a month; McIntosh High School would have to pay $553 monthly and NCR would be billed $651.75.

The biggest bill, however, would go to the city itself, which is responsible for the runoff of public streets and storm drains and would pay more than $28,000 a month — or more than $300,000 annually.

The billing process would bring in annual revenue of about $1.2 million, which would be used by the utility to correct maintenance problems that arise with the city’s aging stormwater sewer system, as well as address problems with pollutants in water runoff.

A number of issues have yet to be determined, including the method of billing. The city might decide to outsource the collection of revenue, or piggyback it onto the water bills that are already handled by the county water system.

The program will also require startup costs for administrative staff and operations before it becomes fully functional in early 2006.