The Flowery Branch City Council unanimously approved a four percent rate increase for both water and sewer rates in the city at it's meeting Thursday evening.
The city was originally considering a seven percent hike, but council members told city officials at a meeting in September that they wanted to look at options that would reduce that increase. Officials brought back plans Thursday that would raise rates by either three or four percent.
The rate increases will more than likely not be the last that city residents will see in the coming years, as officials said the city needs to install additional wastewater capacity and other improvements to the water system in the next several years. Councilman Joe Anglin said there was no other way for the city to cover those costs.
"Unfortunately, if there's anything that needs to be run like a business, it's got to be the wastewater and the water department here," Anglin said. "As expenses go up, you don't have control over a lot of those expenses, you've got to make changes so that you can increase the revenue to keep up."
The increases will be effective as of January 1, 2018. In addition to the upcoming projects, city officials said rates needed to be increased just to get the water and wastewater systems back to even. City Manager Bill Andrew said the city had been using its reserve funds to support the department.
"The three percent (rate increase) would get us to a neutral situation," Andrew said. "The four (percent) is what gets us just a little bit ahead of that curve."
A presentation given to the council at the meeting showed that the city will likely need to increase both water and wastewater rates by a combined 17 to 20 percent between Fiscal Year 2018 and Fiscal Year 2021 in addition to 2018's four percent hike to cover the costs of the proposed projects. Plans for that work have not been finalized.
Despite the rate increase, city officials said that some residents may see their water bills go down because the city is also lowering their base payment for both services, which they say will lower the burden on customers using less water like single-family residences.
