Forsyth County would pay five times more for raw water but get a break on treated water if county commissioners approve a contract offer passed Monday by the Cumming City Council.
The proposal could cost the county and its 47,000 customers about $100,000 more in annual rates and would also put them on the hook for an additional $11.4 million in upgrades to the city's water intake facility at Lake Lanier. The county has so far refused to consider the charge without being granted partial ownership of the facility.
Cumming has the right to take water from the lake, and for the past three decades, the city of about 6,000 people has made millions selling water to the surrounding county of about 175,000. The county cannot get permission to access the lake or the Chattahoochee River, so it must deal with Cumming.
Both sides have until May 26 to work out an agreement before the current contract expires. Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt has said if no deal is struck by then, water rates would rise "dramatically."
County Commission Chairman Jim Boff called Monday's proposal "absurd" and said he hopes to take it up with fellow commissioners at a work session Tuesday afternoon.
The city's proposal would obligate the county to buy $1.6 million in raw water annually over the next 10 years. That's more than five times the amount the county paid last year.
It also calls for a five-year contract in which the county would buy 1.2 billion gallons of treated water per year at a rate of $2.25 per 1,000 gallons. That would commit the county to spending $2.7 million for treated water, about $1.2 million less than it spent for 1.6 billion gallons it purchased last year at $2.43 per 1,000 gallons.
But the county would also have to shell out for city equipment upgrades it says it is not obligated to pay for.
"I don't know why in the world we would ever pay [the city] $11 million without us getting ownership," Boff said.
The county submitted a proposal late last month calling for buying treated water at $2.25 per 1,000 gallons. It also sought a 50-year deal for raw water at its current rate of 10 cents per 1,000 gallons.
That proposal would have saved county customers about $3 million a year and would have given the county part ownership of the intake facility if it paid for 65 percent of its cost.
But Gravitt said he and the City Council weren't about to forfeit ownership of something the city spent millions of dollars -- and faced countless risks -- to put in place.
Forsyth resident Jack Gleason, who attended Monday's meeting, said he was disappointed with the city's response.
Gleason, who serves on the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District advisory council, said state and federal officials are shaking their heads over why Forsyth and Cumming can't figure out a way to share ownership of the water.
"They look at us as two entities that have been engaged for 30 years," he said, "and they want us to get married."
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