The idea of repealing the Fayette County stormwater utility after the passage of the voter-approved one-percent sales tax in March will have to wait until April 25.
The Fayette County Commission on April 13 considered a staff proposal to repeal the 5-year-old stormwater utility for unincorporated property owners but tabled it to give attorney Dennis Davenport time to draft a document to address the board’s concerns.
At question was ability to enforce back-due stormwater utility payments if the utility was repealed.
Davenport is expected to present a draft on April 25 that will include a sunset provision for those owing past due bills.
The county instituted the user-based stormwater utility in 2012 to pay for the repair or improvement of stormwater structures.
With the recent passage of the SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax), staff recommended that the stormwater utility be repealed and that future repair and maintenance beyond the six-year SPLOST period be funded through the county’s general fund.
The stormwater utility since its inception has billed $3.086 million and collected $2.691 million from 17,000 unincorporated property owners, with $394,4741 uncollected.
With the passage of the SPLOST, there is approximately $23.741 million designated for 238 stormwater utility-related projects.
