The mayor of East Point is part of a class action lawsuit filed Friday against her own city, according to a Channel 2 Action News report.
Mayor Earnestine Pittman told Channel 2 that she's standing up for citizens struggling to pay utility bills after a recent rate increase.
The city's water and sewer combined base rates went from $19.50 to $64.80. The increases are forcing business owners to close and residents to move out of town, Pittman told Channel 2.
Pittman placed blame directly on the five city council members who decided to override her veto of the increase. Three of those council membersare up for re-election.
"When your elected officials will not listen to you, then they will have to pay attention to you at the ballot box," Pittman told Channel 2.
The mayor is one of the citizens behind a class action suit filed Friday against the city of East Point to reverse the higher rates. The mayor told Channel 2 the city deposited $3 million in utility subsidies into the general fund.
"The utilities should not and cannot by state statute be used to raise surplus money above and beyond the needs in order maintain that utility," Pittman told Channel 2.
On Saturday, angry citizens marched through East Point to oppose the increase.
Channel 2 spoke to two city council members who support the new rates. They said the increase is prudent, rational and legal.
"We went over this quite thoroughly in the budget process and early on and went through as many options as we possibly could," said council member Steve Bennett. "What we voted on was the best option we had."
Bennett and council member Clyde Mitchell brushed off the mayor's actions as purely political.
"It's not about the citizens," Mitchell told Channel 2. "This is all about our mayor wanting to have power over this city."
Elections are scheduled for Tuesday.
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