Fall Floods Prompt Cobb To Study Need For Separate Stormwater Fee

COBB COUNTY, GA — Cobb County will be looking into creating its first stormwater fee in response to flash flooding earlier this year that damaged hundreds of homes, particularly in East Cobb.

The county's water department was directed to study the need for a stormwater fee and craft proposals in the coming weeks by Cobb commissioners on Tuesday in a 3-2 vote, with Republican commissioners Keli Gambrill and JoAnn Birrell voted against the measure and the three Democrats — Jerica Richardson, Monique Sheffield and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid — voting in favor.

The proposed stormwater fee would create a separate line item on Cobb water bills for stormwater maintenance and improvements. There's also a separate proposal to expand the limited services offered by stormwater management.

The board could move forward with both proposals, just one or neither.

The ideas came from the flash flooding in early September that left some residents stranded in their homes and leaving homeowners with repair bills as high as $200,000, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Overall, residents are facing millions in damages.

East Cobb residents affected by the September floods have been begging county officials to do something about the stormwater infrastructure.

East Cobb resident Hill Wright, who leads a citizens group for storm damage advocacy called Save East Cobb, claims that stormwater services are "playing second fiddle in the water department" and urged support of creating a separate stormwater fee, he said during the public comment period at Tuesday's meeting.

The flooding forced a longtime county issue into light: the county's development has far outpaced the advancement of its stormwater infrastructure.

In November 2014, commissioners approved a change in water and sewer rates that established lower rates for customers inside city limits due to the Cobb Water System not providing stormwater services for those customers. That's how stormwater work is funded as the fee schedule exists today.

A better approach would be charged based on a property's impervious surface, which contributes to how much runoff a property creates, rather than basing it on how much water and sewer a given property uses, said Judy Jones, Cobb's water agency director.

She said exemptions and discounts could be given to property owners who take extra steps to reduce the amount of runoff their property makes.

Studies dating back as early as 2005 recommended a separate fee to finance stormwater needs, according to city documents. Of the 1,800 miles of storm drain pipes in unincorporated Cobb County, about 70 miles have reached the end of their service life and need replacing.

Additionally, the Cobb Water System noted in city documents that there's a "significant backlog" of stormwater projects, including 93 pipe failures that have resulted in sinkholes. The fiscal year 2022 budget for the stormwater management division is $2.26 million, and the stormwater Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget is $4.5 million.

Over the last 27 years, the water system spent an average of $5 million per year on stormwater CIP projects, according to Jones.

"The Water System does not have sufficient staffing or funding to complete these projects in a timely manner," Jones wrote in a memo.

Gambrill took issue with several points, including that taxpayers "don't know what they're getting for that fee" and that it would be adding more work for an already understaffed department.

"Several of our cities have a stormwater fee, and in talking with those residents, they don't know what they get for that fee. They don't see any tangible measurements of results," Gambrill said.

Birrell said she opposed creating a new fee while the county still diverts over $15 million each year from the utility for other government expenses like public safety, and after Cobb water rates going up by 11 percent in January 2022, East Cobb News reported.

Based on "very, very preliminary" estimates, Jones said the average homeowner using 5,000 gallons or less of water and sewer each month would likely pay slightly less with a separate utility fee than the $1.99 per month they'll pay starting in 2022 — only if the stormwater budget doesn't increase.

"In 2005 there was a consultant that completed a feasibility study regarding a stormwater action plan. It is now 2021 and I believe there was not movement on that plan," Cupid said. "I would just ask commissioners that we not continue to kick this can down the road."