Lavonia Looks at Raising Water Line Tap Fees

The City of Lavonia is considering raising its water tap fees.

The City Council, Mayor Courtney Umbehant, and City Manager Charles Cawthon discussed the idea at their work session last week.

According to Cawthon, the City’s tap fee is far below what surrounding municipalities are charging.

“We get $850 for a 3/4″ tap. So the actual parts that we’re putting in actually cost more than we’re actually getting,” he told the Council and Mayor. “As you know, Royston went up. They were at $450 and they went up to $1,500. Franklin County is $1,500, Hart County is $1,700.”

Cawthon recommended raising tap fees from the current $850. Mayor Courtney Umbehant suggested an increase to $1,600.

“I would suggest $1,600..Look at Royston. They went from $475 to $1,500… If we change our fees to just break even now, in six months we’re going to be in the hole,” he said.

Mayor Umbehant noted that currently the City is losing about $400 to $500 per tap under the existing tap fee and said Lavonia needs to be proactive.

Cawthon also suggested making it a policy to require customers who have inactive service to start over after six months.

“If you’ve got an inactive service for six months or longer, nobody is paying the bills, there’s no meter there, we need to start over. So I’d like to make that a matter of written policy,” he said. “If it’s abandoned for six months, then we start over.”

Another area of concern in providing water to citizens is deposit fees, according to Cawthon.

“Also I asked Ashley (Rose Dodd) for some recommendations. She would like to implement a deposit for all accounts across the board. And that would be from $75 to $100. And a $25 set-up fee for new accounts. I’d also like to increase our NSF fee from $30 to $50.”

Cawthon said he’s consulting with Georgia Rural Water Association on the best way to raise tap fees.

No vote was taken but the Council plans to bring the matter up at the next regular meeting.