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Peachtree City staff propose $14 monthly stormwater fee to fund $13.5M in pipe repairs
Summary
Consultants recommended raising the residential equivalent residential unit (ERU) rate to $14/month, adjusting the ERU definition to 4,200 sq ft, and targeting $13.5 million in capital work to fix corroded pipes and reduce costly emergency repairs; council asked for public outreach and billing options.
A consultant told the Peachtree City Council that the city needs a revised stormwater fee structure to address decades of deferred maintenance and severely corroded drainage pipes.
Hope Lissy of ISC, working with Public Works Director Dave Borowski, said a detailed account review shows roughly 12,000 detached single-family residences, hundreds of non-single-family accounts that consume a large share of impervious area, and an updated GIS-based ERU median of 4,200 square feet. "There are over 12,000 detached single family residences in the city," Lissy said, summarizing the customer mix that underpins the fee model.
The study recommends simplifying tiers, setting the ERU to 4,200 sq ft (down from 4,600), charging detached single-family residences a flat $14 per month (about $168 annually), billing very large detached parcels at a minimum equivalent of three ERUs ($504/year minimum), and treating many large detached customers as non-single-family (NSFR) for billing fairness. The model would finance approximately $13.5 million in capital improvements to address a prioritized list of stormwater assets, including more than 35,000 linear feet of metal pipe with advanced corrosion.
Lissy and staff said the revised structure would also expand and refine credits (rain-barrel credit up to 10%, a no-direct-discharge credit, an inspection-and-maintenance credit for older detention ponds constructed before Dec. 6, 2012, and broadening an education credit to include colleges). The changes aim to better align charges with imperviousness and to incentivize long-term maintenance of stormwater facilities.
City staff emphasized the cost of delaying repairs. The consultant showed examples from peer communities where failing culverts required multi-million-dollar replacements; doing preventive rehabilitation would be far cheaper. Council members discussed financing options, including state revolving fund loans and bonds, and favored an aggressive outreach strategy to explain impacts to large commercial customers and residents.
Council asked staff to analyze alternative delivery/billing options; staff noted the tax commissioner's office had offered to include the fee on property tax bills at lower cost than the city's current outsourced billing. Staff said the rate model projects the fund to be near break-even in the second year under the recommended financing assumptions and that financing would accelerate critical CIP work.
Next steps: staff will provide a final ordinance and rate schedule for council consideration (anticipated at the next council meeting), prepare an educational campaign and town hall to explain the changes, and finalize the CIP prioritization and financing plan.
