DeKalb committee recommends increasing proposed water rate hike to 8% annually

DeKalb County Government Manuel J. Maloof Center in downtown Decatur, Ga. (Zoe Seiler/Decaturish)

This story was updated on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 1:18 p.m.

For the last several months, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners has been considering raising water rates by 6% annually over the next three years. But the DeKalb Public Works and Infrastructure Committee during its Dec. 3 meeting asked the administration to amend that proposal to an increase of 8% annually over the next 10 years.

The committee asked for the amendment after a brief recess. All five commissioners attended the meeting, but the committee members are Robert Patrick, Mereda Davis Johnson and Ted Terry.

Arcadis, the firm running financial projections related to the county’s watershed capital plan, presented an option that would include various increases to the water rates for the county to operate the watershed department and issue bonds for water and sewer improvements.