Increase needed to fund $15M for Lake McIntosh reservoir

Faced with borrowing an estimated $15 million to complete the Lake McIntosh reservoir, Fayette County officials will be considering an increase in water rates this year and next.

This year’s recommended increase is 10 percent, with an additional 5 percent increase the following year. It will raise the average residential bill by about $3 a month, officials said.

The matter will be discussed by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners at its work session meeting Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. It will be voted on later at a regularly scheduled meeting of the commissioners, according to a memo from county officials.

The average residential water bill ranges from $29 to $31 currently. The increase will drive that range to $31.90 to $34.10
Under the current rate structure, the base rate for a typical home is $16 for the first 2,000 gallons and $2.80 for each additional 1,000 gallons used in a month.

The proposed increase for 2009 would up that to $17.60 per 2,000 gallons and $3.08 for each additional thousand gallons.
In 2010 the minimum rate would increase to $18.48 for the first 2,000 gallons and $3.23 for each additional thousand gallons.

The 10 and 5 percent increases would also apply to residences and businesses that have larger meters which are under different rate structures, according to county staff.

The increase would also apply to water bought wholesale by the City of Fayetteville for its water system. Fayette County’s water system serves the unincorporated county as well as Peachtree City, Tyrone, Brooks and Woolsey.

The last time water rates were raised was back in 1991, according to county officials.

Planned since the 1970s, the Lake McIntosh reservoir will be located on the Coweta-Fayette County line by damming up Line Creek. The property will be bordered by the Planterra Ridge subdivision and golf course, part of the city’s industrial park and Falcon Field airport. Pathway Communities has also proposed that a 37-acre site directly next to the lake be rezoned from industrial to residential use to accommodate an upscale subdivision and events center.

Clearing of the lake site is nearly completed and county officials are working through the regulatory process at the federal and state level in hopes of perhaps starting construction by this summer.

The county needs a dam construction permit from the state and other wetland mitigation issues to work out at the federal level among other tasks to prepare for construction.