Thursday, December 7, 2023–1:07 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
The Rome Water and Sewer committee got an update on the department’s proposed 2024 budget Thursday.
Water and sewer is an enterprise fund, meaning it operates on its own revenues instead of properly taxes. Rome Finance Director Toni Rhinehart told the committee the 2024 proposed budget includes a 0-4 percent merit raise for employees. Around $700,000 is also in the budget for eight new positions as Rome prepares to construct a new ‘reverse osmosis’ filtration plant.
A decrease in operational revenues is anticipated. The city recently rolled back water and sewer rates to where they were in December of 2018 following settlements in the PFAS lawsuit. $154 million in settlement money is in hand for a new ‘reverse osmosis’ filtration plant to remove Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from the Oostanaula River. Rhinehart said an additional $30 million in settlement money is anticipated to come in over the next five years. Total operational revenues and transfers are budgeted at $30,647,000. A rate study is scheduled for next year.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Rome Water and Sewer Division Director John Boyd went over project requests as part of the five-year capital plan for 2024-2028. The requests include equipment, vehicles, maintenance, repair, and rehab. Boyd told committee members that the water and sewer department doesn’t ask for anything unless it’s needed.
“Basically, the city has a scoring system for equipment,” he said.
Vehicles are scored in the areas of age, hours of use or miles, type of service, reliability, maintenance costs, and condition.
The project list is around $15 million and includes $32,000 for the relocation of the payment drive-thru at the Rome City Auditorium. The current drive-thru dates back to the 1980s.
“It is obsolete,” said Customer Service Department Director Bryan Parris. “You cannot get parts for it. They had to do some makeshift work because the intercom system went out earlier this year. It cost us quite a bit of money because there was nothing available as parts as parts were concerned.”
The relocation to a location to the very back edge of the city auditorium is also expected to help with parking and congestion.
“Right now, once you have two cars in the drive-thru, a third car cannot get into the driveway to park,” Parris said. “So, if we can bring the traffic further down, I think that would help.”
The setup for the new drive-thru would utilize a chute system like you see at some banks. Parris said it would not be like a drive-thru at a restaurant as there would be a monitor where the customer could see and speak to a customer service representative.