Atlanta sewer tax renewal will greet voters on March 1
We have two options, city says: pay the tax or watch your water bills rise
On March 1, Atlanta voters won’t just pick which Democrat or Republican — or bizarrely coiffed former reality TV star — they want to see in the White House come 2017. They will also have to decide a billion-dollar question: Do they want to keep paying a 1 percent sales tax to fund the city’s sewer overhaul? Or see their already sky-high water rates rise?
In the 1990s, after the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper filed suit, a federal judge ordered the city to repair and rebuild its antiquated sewer system . Voters in 2004 approved a Municipal Option Sales Tax, or MOST, to help pay for the improvements. Since that time the city has spent nearly $2 billion on making those fixes.
The tax, which has been renewed by voters three times since, has generated approximately $1 billion since it was first levied and makes up 20 percent of the Department of Watershed Management’s annual budget. This year marks the last time the tax can be renewed without prior authorization by the Atlanta City Council.
According to DWM Commissioner Jo Ann Macrina, MOST revenues have helped reduce sewer spills and rain-induced overflows. The cash has also helped pay for projects such as Historic Fourth Ward Park, which doubles as green infrastructure and a greenspace, and the Nancy Creek and South River tunnels.
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Jason Ulseth says the “Chattahoochee River and its tributaries flowing through the city are cleaner than they have been in decades” as a result of the infrastructure program.
“We are seeing a dramatic drop in E. coli levels and fish and wildlife are returning to these once blighted and heavily polluted urban waterways,” he says. “However, much work remains to continue the improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure and perform maintenance on structures and equipment installed in recent years. The MOST is critically needed to fund these projects and continue to improve water quality in the Chattahoochee River.”
The cash goes into the department’s operating fund, which Spokeswoman Lillian Govus says pays for main breaks and large infrastructure projects, most of which can be found in the Captial Improvement Program. If voters approve the levy, Macrina says, up to 10 percent of the cash could be spent on stormwater improvements similar to Historic Fourth Ward Park or projects installed in Peoplestown, Summerhill, and Mechanicsville to address persistent flooding. A sizable chunk will be reserved to turn Bellwood Quarry in northwest Atlanta into an emergency drinking-water reservoir.
And if voters don’t approve the tax? Macrina says customers could expect to see their water bills increase to pay for mandated repairs. Them’s the breaks?