With Atlantans already facing the possibility of higher taxes and reduced services, Atlanta City Council members asked Tuesday about heading off plans to increase water/sewer fees 80 percent over four years to pay for pipe upgrades.

The answer: an emphatic no.

Utility officials claimed any attempt to break up and delay parts of Mayor Shirley Franklin's Clean Water Atlanta program would be "courting disaster."

Rob Hunter, commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management, said Atlanta's aging water and sewer pipe network could easily run into such major problems that service could be interrupted for days, if not weeks. Such an event downtown would cause such economic harm "Atlanta might never recover," Hunter said.

Council members didn't seem convinced.

"I'd like to look at what programs that have not been started that are not part of the [federal] consent decrees" mandated the overhaul, said Councilwoman Clair Muller.

She wasn't alone during Tuesday's daylong budget work session in wondering what parts of the $4 billion project are optional. Elements not agreed to in the decrees might be delayed and rates lowered, they said.

Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong focused on delaying about $930 million in water system fixes that aren't part of the two consent orders. She noted the council's gotten a series of different numbers over the past six years.

"Which version of the truth is the truth?" she said.

Hunter said any change now would not lower 2008-09 rates because the money pays for projects already in the pipeline. Changes that would substantially affect rates in the future would need to be deletions or delays on a grand scale, Hunter said.

"It is my professional judgment this is the best we could do," Hunter said.

The rate plan the Watershed Management Department introduced to the council Tuesday calls for a 27.5 percent hike in 2008-09 followed by two 12.5 percent jumps and finally a 12 percent increase. Officials estimated the average water/sewer bill would jump from $84.60 to $151.92 when they are done.

The city had hoped to get significant federal and state funds for the pipe overhaul but so far has gotten little outside help, leading to the need for rate hikes.

Because Atlanta provides water service, sewer service or both to areas from Sandy Springs to deep south Fulton and wholesales water to other systems, the hikes would affect customers across Fulton County and beyond.

Franklin's proposed $583.9 million general fund budget proposes a property tax hike to raise $40 million, plus more than a dozen fee increases.

The Watershed Management Department stands on its own, with the proposed $507.9 million budget funded by rate payers, not property taxes. But council members said they are worried about the cumulative effect on residents, especially during an economic slowdown.

Hunter said the department is abolishing 148 vacant positions but is not firing any employees to reduce costs. Hunter said the agency, which has more than 1,300 jobs, cannot cut more.

"Our people are our services," Hunter said.