We can pay now. Or we can pay now. That’s no misprint; rather, it’s an accurate summation of the no-real-choice scenario facing Atlanta voters Tuesday on the penny sales tax for financing water and sewer system improvements that benefit 1.2 million people in this metro area.
In our view, city residents would best serve their interests by voting “yes” for the Municipal Option Sales Tax. Their affirmative vote will even benefit, indirectly, the best interests of the broader region and state, we’d argue.
No service is more essential to the modern common good than providing clean water and effective sewerage service to the populace at large.
An equally unavoidable necessity is that the city of Atlanta is compelled by consent decree to continue making fixes and improvements required to comply by 2014 with the federal Clean Water Act. The decree was the result of long-deferred work that resulted in problems such as sewage spills and Chattahoochee River pollution.
Like most deferred infrastructure investments, the bill finally came due. And the necessity to see the work through, and pay for it, continues. That fiscal reality won’t change, even in the presence of a restive electorate in an election year that’s setting a high threshold for divisive, uncivil debate.
Against that backdrop of the national political boxing match that arrives in Georgia for the Super Tuesday primaries, it’s refreshing that a majority of metro Atlantans seem cognizant of both the need to continue with Atlanta’s sewer upgrades and that extending the MOST sales tax for another four years is the best mechanism to fund this work. Even consistent critics of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management concede the need for this revenue and that extending the MOST tax is the best way to raise that money.
It’s either continue on with the sales tax, or the estimated $440 million to be raised over four years will instead be recovered through additional rate increases. And, following the logic of tax reform advocates who lobby for broader distribution of tax burdens, a sales tax paid by those who live or do business in Atlanta seems the flattest, most efficient way to meet this obligation, which amounts to roughly one-fifth of funding for water and sewer projects and costs.
Also, Atlanta’s water customers have seen multiple rate hikes in recent years. As a result, city water charges are, giving the widest possible benefit of the doubt, among the highest in the nation. Arguably, Atlanta’s charges for water use are the steepest found among major U.S. cities.
As AJC PolitiFact reporter Eric Stirgus wrote when researching rates last September, “Based on the research we’ve seen, none of which has been disputed, Atlanta has the highest monthly bills in most categories. When it is not first, Atlanta is typically second.”
This in a region where ongoing water supply issues already have many metro residents also paying comparatively high fees for water. An October story in this newspaper found that Atlantans paid much more for water service than those in Clayton or Fayette counties, for example, but they also paid significantly less than their counterparts in DeKalb County.
Besides sharing the common pain of high water levies, Atlanta’s water issues are also regional because the city Watershed Department supplies water or sewage service to 1.2 million people here, from Fairburn to Sandy Springs. The system’s reach covers parts of Fulton, DeKalb, Fayette and Coweta counties.
The MOST tax has helped Atlanta improve water quality. The reduction of pollution into the embattled Chattahoochee River should also help this region, and Georgia, in the continuing water wars with Alabama and Florida. Even with a strong court ruling in Georgia’s favor last year, it can still only be to our advantage to show that we’re working hard to maintain the quality of water that flows downstream.
All of the above makes a decisive case, we believe, for continuing the MOST tax for four more years.
Andre Jackson, for the Editorial Board
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