South Hall sewer customer says, 'do it right'

GAINESVILLE - A South Hall residential sewer customer told county commissioners Monday when they do another sewer rate study, 'do it right'.

There are around 2000 residents on Hall County's sewer system and Phyllis Mercer is one of them. She said the Commission has already spent $200,000 on rate studies and she questioned the need for another one.

"There was conversation that included commitment from the consultant who is the same consultant bidding for this study to do some work without cost," Mercer said. "Why would we proceed to do another study and pay them when they made the commitment to do more work at no cost?"

Mercer told the Board that before a commitment is made to proceed with the study, it must result in a recommendation different from the prior studies.

"Any recommendation must be fair and equitable to all users, it must be simple and have continuity with rates in surrounding areas," Mercer added. "There have to be alternatives for reducing the debt and there's got to be a practical way of working with Gainesville to get the water usage rate for us to calculate this based on usage. Otherwise you're wasting our money."

Residents who live in Deaton Creek, Sterling on the Lake and Reunion subdivisions currently pay a $42 a month flat rate for sewer service. Commissioners, on a recommendation from Public Works Director Ken Reardon and County Administrator Randy Knighton, postponed consideration of a revised proposal from CDM Smith to prepare a South Hall Wastewater Rate and Fee study for another 30 days.

NOT SURE ABOUT T-SPLOST

Hall County Commission Chairman Tom Oliver said he is not sure about the regional Transportation sales tax vote coming up in July.

Commissioners reviewed a list of county road projects that could get funding with a 'yes' vote. That list was developed by county public works in conjunction with the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization. Oliver said the state transportation department needs to be more receptive about releasing more money to counties regardless of T-SPLOST.

"Something's got to change," Oliver remarked. "I'm not sure how the T-SPLOST is going to fare."

The Transportation Investment Act provides 75 percent funding for approved regional projects and 25 percent for local discretionary projects.

According to the county's Transportation Improvement Act Local Project list there are $47,000,000 worth of road construction projects, $6,100,000 in intersection improvements and $5,000,000 for resurfacing. The funding would be $500,000 for ten years or the duration of the T-SPLOST for a total of $58,100,000.