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Athens staff outline utility rate changes that would broaden billing and add transparency as debt service rises
Summary
City staff and a consultant presented a utility rate study recommending charging for all water consumption, increasing the wastewater billing cap to 15,000 gallons, and considering a separate capital-improvement fee; rising debt service in FY2028–29 may require monitoring to meet bond coverage requirements.
City Manager Elizabeth Borstad and consultant Grant Rabon presented a utility rate study at the Oct. 23 Athens work session that projects expenses and debt service needs through fiscal 2029 and recommends changes to the city's rate structure.
Rabon said the study is grounded in cash-needs analysis — covering operations, maintenance, debt service and capital projects — and recommended charging for all water consumption rather than including the first 2,000 gallons in the base rate. He also proposed extending the wastewater billing cap from 7,000 to 15,000 gallons to better capture high-volume users.
The consultant presented a debt service coverage analysis showing that while coverage would be adequate in the early years, rising debt service for planned capital improvements could reduce coverage in FY2028–29 and would require monitoring to ensure bond requirements are met. Rabon also showed an option to add a separate "capital improvement fee" on customer bills to improve transparency while keeping the overall bill total unchanged and compared Athens' rates to neighboring communities as generally competitive.
No formal rate changes were adopted during the work session; the study was presented for discussion and planning.
