After more than two years of talks and threats of lawsuits, Forsyth County and Cumming reached a water agreement Friday.
The contract, a 30-year plan with 10-year renewals, is expected to save the county Water Department about $9.5 million over the first 10 years, said Tim Perkins, the department’s director.
“I won’t say our rates won’t have to go up, but this won’t be the cause,” Perkins said. “We’ve got to do a capital improvement plan and see what our 20-year needs are.”
Forsyth, the fastest-growing county in the state, still has permits pending to draw its own water from Lake Lanier or the Chattahoochee River. Cumming is one of four jurisdictions permitted to draw from Lanier.
The new contract calls for the city to sell treated water at the current rate of $2.43 per 1,000 gallons, but it cuts the amount the county must buy each year by 75 percent to 400 million gallons.
The county will also be eligible to buy more untreated water than under the old contract, but it will cost 50 cents per 1,000 gallons, five times the rate under the previous contract.
Terms also require the county to pay Cumming $11.7 million of the $17 million cost for upgrades made to the city’s intake facility at Lanier. The county had maintained it had no obligation to pay for the upgrade because the city gave no prior notification of the work.
County Commissioner Todd Levent cast the only dissenting vote among the two governing bodies. He would not comment on the reason.
Neither side expressed glee over the deal Friday.
County Commission Chairman Jim Boff said he had wanted to push for a better deal, but there were too many unknowns if the fight landed in court. The new deal, he said, at the very least provides flexibility, cost savings and water security.
Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt said the process had not been pleasant.
“I think the rule of leadership by these two boards is having the ability to compromise,” he said.
Friday’s meeting also included agreement on the distribution of local option sales tax money. That settlement gives the city a 15 percent share over the next five years and a 13 percent share over the following five years. The county collects about $30 million in LOST money each year.
In a third action ratified Friday, the county committed $3.5 million to help fund three major road projects in Cumming.
The unified action was in contrast to an episode Tuesday when Commissioner Patrick Bell traded heated words with Boff during a county work session. That incident prompted Boff to request a sheriff’s deputy at all future meetings between the two until Bell’s term expires in December.
Because a deputy is always present at regular business sessions, a Forsyth spokesman said Friday that it will require additional security staffing on about three more occasions.
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