A new ordinance was passed for an 18-month, three-phase plan to change how the fees and rates for water and sewer services charge residents in Milledgeville.
The new ordinance was discussed on Aug. 27 and is based on the size of pipeage each residential or commercial building uses. The rate increase will also be determined if the home is within city limits or not — water charges are less expensive to homes inside of Milledgeville city limits than those outside. This ordinance will also affect water and sewer tapping and connection fees and changes to deposits or other related fees.
Sewer tapping is the main place where the home’s sewer line connects to the main sewer line. Then these changes will change how much each person’s deposits will be.
“All residential water and sewer customers have ¾ inch or 1-inch size lines,” said Milledgeville Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan. “Therefore, more than 85% of the lines are 1 inch or less. The water and sewer fees on a 1-inch line, on average, will increase by about 55%.”
This means that residents of Milledgeville will have higher water bills.
Sarah Crowder, a sophomore criminal justice major, was worried her rent might increase.
“Since I rent, I could be paying more for this,” Crowder said. “We got this house because it was so cheap, and for us to be told it could be not as cheap really sucks because the house is not that good for it to not be cheap.”
Other students were not as worried due to the nature of their leases.
“My landlord covers water,” said Livi Langston, a junior English major. “So it wouldn’t affect me, but it would affect him, and per our lease, he can’t increase rent on me.”
Parham-Copelan has offered some insight on where the additional funds from this new ordinance would go.
“The funds generated by water and sewer fees goes into the Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund to be used for the costs associated with providing water and sewer service to City of Milledgeville Water System customers,” Parham-Copelan said. “These costs fall into the category of water and sewer treatment, delivery, collections and maintenance.”
Milledgeville has a history of struggling with water contamination due to old pipes that have rusted or damaged over the years. However, these funds might be used to ensure a better quality of water for the people of Milledgeville.
The ordinance shows that facilities with the largest pipes could see their rates increase by hundreds of dollars.
“The city never takes lightly increasing fees on its residents,” Parham-Copelan said. “But water and sewer rates have not increased since 2010, while necessary costs have increased fairly significantly, at least in the last 4 years. The increase is necessary to maintain the system and to make necessary improvements in the water treatment plant and delivery infrastructure.”
The first phase of this ordinance will begin on Jan. 1, 2025, followed by the second phase on July 1, 2025 and then the third and final phase beginning July 1, 2026. The information on the exact changes in price will be published in Section 90-8 of the Milledgeville Code of Ordinances.
