Northside Hospital requests $143,894 sewer credit; council will consider agreement on Oct. 16

CANTON, Ga. — City utilities staff informed the Canton City Council on Oct. 2 that Northside Hospital Cherokee has asked for a sewer‑only credit of $143,893.99 covering Aug. 2024 through Aug. 2025 after a cooling tower meter malfunctioned and subsequent readings were not reported.

Utilities presenter Mister Ingram said the hospital campus is served by a 6‑inch main meter and averages roughly 2.1 million gallons per month; the cooling tower is separately metered and consumes about 1.2 million gallons per month. The hospital replaced the faulty meter with a new ultrasonic meter but did not resume sharing the reads with the city until a recent energy audit highlighted a potential credit.

City staff said policy allows back‑billing for one year and recommended handling this request as a billing statement credit (not a cash refund) to be worked off over subsequent months. Staff said the city will require a written agreement clarifying responsibilities for the cooling tower meter, permit remote reads via the city's AMI system where feasible, and include contractual language to avoid future liabilities for the city if private meters malfunction. Staff will bring the proposed agreement and request for council action on Oct. 16; no council vote was taken Oct. 2.

If approved, staff estimated the credit would be applied to the hospital’s billing statement and expect the hospital's monthly bills (about $70,000/month per staff comment) to extinguish the credit over several months.

Next step: staff to prepare the written agreement and present the credit request and agreement for council consideration on Oct. 16.