The on-again-off-again talks between the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority and the City of Canton appear to be on again as the two sides try to strike a deal to allow Canton to unload its one-fourth stake in the $100 million Hickory Log Creek Reservoir and the debt that goes with it.
Water Authority General Manager Glenn Page confirmed this week that the authority has retained a consultant to review costs accumulated since Canton and the authority formed a partnership 11 years ago to build Hickory Log Creek for a then-projected cost of about $19 million.
As design, engineering, construction and land acquisition has multiplied the project’s cost five-fold over the last decade, Canton, a city with a population of about 23,000, has taken on between $25 million and $30 million in bond debt while the reservoir has become a fiscal and political liability. It was a factor in November’s City Council elections when two long-time incumbents and reservoir supporters were defeated.
Page declined to identify the consultant, who is being paid $12,000 to offer an appraised value of the project. The consultant may recommend a plan by which the authority can take full ownership of the reservoir and Canton can shed some or all of its debt while keeping rights to the water supply, although Page would not confirm it.
Impact on the area’s taxpayers remains unclear, although reservoir debt has already has forced the city to hike water and sewer rates 30 percent.
Talks between the authority and the city stalled last September when the authority’s board of directors effectively dismissed a memorandum of understanding drawn up by the Canton City Council, proposing that the authority assume the city’s reservoir debt and give the city rights to 6 million gallons of water a day. In exchange, the authority would become the sole owner of the reservoir.
“Sounds like a sweet deal for somebody, but I don’t know that we’re in a position to take action,” Cobb water authority board chairman and Smyna Mayor Max Bacon said at the time, before board voted 7-0 to take the memorandum “under advisement,” rather than move forward with it.
Page said the consultant now has a month to come up with figures and recommendations. He declined to say whether any deal is imminent. The reservoir is full but is not expected to start operating until later this year.
Canton Mayor Gene Hobgood, who has advocated striking a deal that would ease his city’s reservoir debt while retaining rights to it as a water supply, said this week he hopes the consultant can help restart negotiations.
“We hope he can set a value ... we can all agree on and then maybe next month, we can sit down and talk,” said Hobgood.
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