Hours after Atlanta announced a proposed agreement with federal regulators that would give the city an extra 13 years to make required upgrades to its sewer system, Mayor Kasim Reed sat down for an interview with Channel 2 Action News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta's sewer system serves as many as one million people per day, when commuters from DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Clayton and other counties are taken into account. Work to fix the system is funded by some of the highest rates in the nation, as well as a one-percent sales tax on most goods purchased in Atlanta.
Reed said the lenience from federal regulators could help keep Atlanta's high water and sewer bills from spiking higher. The additional time could also help Atlanta trim the estimated $445 million in remaining work, he said. Before the deal becomes final, it would have to go through several steps, including approval by the City Council, public comment and sign-off by U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash.
Q: What are the implications of pushing out the mandatory completion date to July 1, 2027?
A: We are not finished yet, but this is a huge day for the city of Atlanta. What giving us the additional time is going to do is, it's going to allow us...to be more thoughtful, to make sure we're not making mistakes. It gives us some flexibility. When you're working on a 2014 deadline, you really have to throw costs considerations out the window, because you've got to be done by 2014.
Q: Questions about cost aside, would you have hit the 2014 deadline?
A: We would've met it because we would've spent whatever it took. But the question is, is that the best use of taxpayer dollars?
Q: What were the key elements of the argument you made to the EPA?
A: Well, Mayor [Shirley] Franklin's administration did an excellent job. [The city cut the number of untreated sewage overflows by 62 percent from 2004 to 2010, according to documents submitted to the City Council.] The EPA had an enormous amount of data to look at. Atlanta has really changed its behavior. We've gone from being one of the worst cities in the United States to being one of the best cities in the world, in terms of rebuilding our water and sewer infrastructure.
Q: You've said water and sewer rates for residents will not rise for the next four years. But will water and sewer rates go up after 2016?
A: The question is how much. I am hopeful we will be able to keep rates as close to flat as possible for as long as possible. Once we finalize this deal, I'm going to come back to you and tell you exactly what it means to the pocketbooks of the folks we serve. I really do want to relieve the ratepayers of the city of Atlanta. But I don't want to mislead people. We're not going to be reversing the increases that have occurred because we've spent $1.5 billion and we have bond covenants we have to keep. What we've gotten for that is one of the most modern [sewer] systems in the country. We have been under such enormous pressure for nine years.
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