The sabre rattling between Forsyth County and the City of Cumming appeared to have ended Thursday when both sides gave tentative approval to a new multi-year water contract.
Forsyth County and its 50,000 water customers had faced a Saturday deadline to reach an agreement or be subject to possible "dramatic increases" in their water rates.
Cumming, one of only four jurisdictions with access to water from Lake Lanier, has been the county's chief supplier for the past 25 years. Despite numerous attempts, the county has not been granted permits to draw water from the lake or from the Chattahoochee River.
Overall, the contract gives the county the same rate it is paying now for raw water and a reduced rate for treated water. In return, the county has agreed to pay $11.4 million of the $17 million cost for an upgrade to the city's intake facility at Lake Lanier. The county had maintained during negotiations that it would not pay the bill without being granted a share of ownership of the pipe.
"I'm OK with it," County Commission Chairman Jim Boff said. "I wouldn't say I'm happy."
While the county was not able to negotiate a share of the pipe, terms of the agreement require that the city assist the county in future efforts to gain permits to the lake or the Chattahoochee.
The treated water agreement is for five years, with a five-year renewal option. The county will be charged $2.25 per thousand gallons for treated water, about 18 cents less than the current contract.
The raw-water agreement runs for 15 years with a 15-year option. Under its terms, the county will pay about 10 cents per thousand gallons, the same as under the current contract.
Forsyth paid Cumming about $3.9 million last year for potable water and about $300,000 for raw water that it processes at its own plant, said Tim Perkins, Forsyth County director of Water and Sewer.
The county built its $18.5 million water plant, which opened in 2000, expecting that by now it would have permits from either the Army Corps of Engineers to take water out of the lake or the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which issues withdrawal permits for the Chattahoochee.
The five-year agreement for treated water will give the county time to explore its own access to water, Boff said.
Thursday's agreement was accepted by Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt who had been authorized to act on behalf of the city council as the deadline approached for the old contract to expire. It will require a full vote of the council before it is officially ratified.
Gravitt had said in the heat of negotiations that if a pact was not reached by the Saturday deadline, the city would continue supplying the county with water but at "dramatically higher rates."
The new pact also ends two months of intense negotiations in which county commissioners argued among themselves as much as with the city. In all, the city rejected more than seven proposals issued by the county.
Gravitt says he will call a special meeting of the city council as soon as possible to have the agreement considered.
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