Gainesville City Council members voted Tuesday to equalize a utility fee between city and county water users.
In July, county users will see their monthly bills drop $1.22, bringing the account servicing fee down to $6.44. City residents currently pay $3.83 for public utilities employees to read their meters.
On July 1, 2012, the fee for county users will drop $1.22 again to $5.22, and by July 2013, all users will pay $4, with county bills moving down another $1.22 and city bills moving up 17 cents.
Also effective this July, city and county users will pay the same fee for sanitary sewer service at $6.73 per 100 cubic feet.
"We've been working on reducing the fee differential for years," said Tina Wetherford, public utilities' division manager for finance and administration. "The account service fee has changed with new technology. Now that we can read meters in the office, we can pass on the savings
to the customers."
The fee differential has sparked controversy over the years, most notably when state Rep. James Mills, R-Chestnut Mountain, lifted a large picture of his water bill during closing remarks at the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce Eggs & Issues breakfast in December.
The discussion lasted throughout the day as the Hall County delegation held its annual pre-legislative meetings at Lanier Technical College to hear concerns from local agencies, schools and governments. During their time slot, Gainesville officials said the price differential wasn't fair and planned to announce changes after the first of the year.
"The original purpose of the account servicing fee was to pay for operations, and the city and county began discussing this last April," Kelly Randall, director of public utilities, said in December. "It's a $3.7 million issue, and it's not something we can just fix."
Mills pointed out his concern based on state code, which states that a city providing service to residents outside its geographic location cannot "arbitrarily" set a fee to those outside the city limits.
"I am thankful that they are moving forward on this," he said Tuesday. "However, I am extremely disappointed that they don't have the backbone to change it completely now."
Mills said he will consider asking the state attorney general about the legal question of continuing to collect the unnecessary fees.
After the new ordinance passed unanimously Tuesday, council member George Wangemann noted it was "the right thing to do.
"Obviously, it will go a long way in smoothing relations between the city and county," he said.
The move could help relationships with county staff and county residents alike.
"I agree with George 100 percent," Mayor Pro Tem Danny Dunagan said. "We needed to do what's right, and I hope they will do the same."