By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Fayette County residents pay more for water than their neighbors, according to a recent study.

Wachovia Securities Inc., a company involved in financing numerous water and sewer construction projects, recently released a study rating Fayette's cost for water higher than rates in Fulton, Henry, Douglas, Clayton and Coweta counties.

Using an average of 9,000 gallons a month, the bill in Fayette would be $35.60, said bond counsel Bill Johnston, who conducted the study.

For the same 9,000 gallons, Fulton residents pay $25.50, Douglas residents $29.44, Coweta $30.03, Henry $28.77 and Clayton $18. Fayetteville residents would pay $28.80, but Peachtree City rates were not ranked in the study, said Johnston.

That's no big surprise, said County Commissioner Glen Gosa, chairman of Fayette's Water Committee. Many water systems in surrounding counties are subsidized by tax dollars, he said.

“Ours is a true enterprise fund. There's no benefit from tax dollars. It's strictly funded from product sales and loans... at competitive rates.”

Not only do some other counties put tax dollars into their systems, but they also have reduced costs simply by being older than Fayette's system, Gosa said.

More federal grant and low-interest loan money was available when they were building their systems in the `70s and `80s, he said, whereas Fayette has built its system in more recent years when those funding sources have been reduced.

And Fayette's heavy capital costs have come more recently and thus are higher, he added. “We've constructed two reservoirs and are in the permitting process for a third, and we've built water tanks, loop lines and a treatment plant.”

Other water systems are aging and expanding, so they will have to replace old facilities and build new ones, he predicted. “As they build their reservoirs and construct their loop lines, their costs will be closer to ours and their rates will begin to close,” he said.

Fayette's last rate increase was in 1991, Gosa said, “and we don't anticipate anymore rate increases for the foreseeable future.”

Clayton County ranked lowest among all metro Atlanta counties for combined water and sewer rates, below DeKalb, Cobb, Douglas, Henry, Cherokee, Gwinnett, Fulton and Fayette. In that comparison, Fayette was ranked second behind Fulton County, but the comparison is moot since Fayette does not provide sewer service.

Johnston said the study is conducted to give bonding companies an idea how much flexibility water providers have in their rates.