Marietta council accepts $28 million utility prepayment, approves BLW budget amendment and flags 5% water pass‑through
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Summary
Council approved a BLW fiscal amendment accepting a reported $28,000,000 advance from a data‑center customer for a substation and voted to recommend MEAG off‑system sales margins; councilors pressed for more detail after the Cobb‑Marietta Water Authority approved a 5% pass‑through for water and 3.5% for wastewater.
Miss Richardson, presenting the Board of Lights and Water report, told the council the utility recently received a platinum Georgia Association of Water Professionals Distribution System of Excellence award and reviewed a large customer payment related to a new data center in South Fulton. "They paid 28,000,000 in advance for the substation," the mayor noted during the discussion.
The BLW staff said the payment will be received and expensed against construction costs rather than coming from city capital improvement funds or the operating budget. Ron, the BLW general manager, asked the council to recommend approval of the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) off‑system energy sales margins so the mayor could sign forms to take the credit on the city’s MEAG bill.
Councilmember Goldstein moved to add the MEAG items to the council agenda and to accept the BLW recommendation; the motion passed on a unanimous voice vote. Council then approved a fiscal year 2026 budget amendment authorizing the expenditure of funds already received to cover a customer's construction costs necessary to serve that customer. The council vote was recorded as passing unanimously; no roll‑call tally was given in the work session transcript.
The session also covered the Cobb‑Marietta Water Authority's planning guidance, which council members said will be passed through to Marietta customers. Councilman Chalfont, summarizing the Authority report, said the Authority recommended a 5% planning increase for water for fiscal 2026 (with planning estimates of 5% per year through 2029 and 6% in 2030) and a 3.5% increase for wastewater, to be passed through by the Authority. Chalfont told council the Authority's water sales averaged about 79,000,000 gallons per day and that Marietta's share is roughly 7–7.5 million gallons per day.
Several council members asked for clearer budget detail showing how the pass‑through percentage was calculated. Miss Richardson objected to placing the BLW minutes on consent and said she did not understand how a reported $14,000,000 reduction in capital improvement spending this year coincided with a 5% pass‑through increase next year. She asked staff to provide more detailed budget materials at the regular Wednesday meeting.
The council did not alter the Authority's recommendation at the work session; staff said the pass‑through would appear on future consumer bills as directed by the Authority. The budget amendment enabling the large customer‑funded construction work was approved and will be reflected in upcoming capital accounting and Council agenda materials.