The Ellijay Gilmer County Water & Sewage Authority will be instituting across-the-board rate and fee increases across the board beginning July 1st, citing inflationary pressures.
Expect higher rates for water and sewage if your provider is the Ellijay Gilmer County Water & Sewage Authority.
All rates and fees for water and sewage services will be increasing starting July 1st, 2023. Fees for new accounts, deposit transfers, and disconnections will all be doubling from $25 to $50, while fees for re-connection will go up 50% from $50 to $75 for business hours re-connection and $100 to $150 for off-hours re-connection.
Residential customers will see their minimum water consumption charge rise from $12.60 to $18, while the minimum sewage charge will be raised from $10.50 to $16. Additional water consumption will be priced at $3.49-$4.20 for each additional 1,000 gallons, and additional sewer will be priced at $4.94-$5.95 for each additional 1,000 gallons.
The rise in rates for commercial customers is even steeper, with minimum water and sewage fees doubling. Commercial customers will see their minimum water usage rates increase from $12.60 to $25, while the minimum commercial sewer charge will increase from $10.50 to $25.
However, the additional per-unit cost of water and sewage for commercial customers will remain the same as that of residential users, and charges for tap fees, impact fees and meter deposits remain unchanged.
The new rate/fee schedule was approved by water board members Mike Gibbs, Hubert Parker, Billy Rowe, Tony Whitaker and Ricky Wimpey at the board’s April meeting.
According to Board Chairman Gibbs, the last rate increase was in 2014. Members of the board cite the pressures of inflation on material and labor costs as the motivation behind the rate and fee increases.
It remains unclear at this time whether or not these price increases will fund the improvement of local water and sewage infrastructure. A recent sewage spill into the Coosawattee River is still being investigated, but could be indicative of weaknesses in the current water and sewage infrastructure that might be even more costly to address.
New Ellijay News is still investigating last month’s sewage spill further, and will have a full report on it in the coming weeks.