No new stormwater fee for Cobb County: Commissioners table 'rain tax'

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - After a lot of pushback, Cobb County residents will not be paying a new stormwater utility fee, at least for now. That fee was expected to pay for problems with the county's aging storm water infrastructure.

Dozens of people spoke out at a meeting Tuesday night, calling the fee a "rain water tax" being forced on them during financially tough times. While county leaders believe the fee is needed, they understood the residents' concerns.

"You're taking money for the sewer water debacle, you ought to be ashamed," said resident Sally Grubbs.

Cobb County officials said they're trying to change the fee structure for stormwater management. They said the stormwater infrastructure from the ‘70s and ’80s is failing frequently.

As a result, residents are seeing more flooding, broken pipes and sinkholes.

Under the current budget, the county can't keep up. There's also a backlog of maintenance and repairs.

"These are old pipes that are cracked," said resident Denny Wilson.

Wilson said she has seen the problem in her own neighborhood and understands the need to repair the infrastructure. However, she doesn't think the county has a good plan to do that.

"You guys need to table this until you can come out and educate us on what you're going to do," she said.

Right now, Cobb County residents are billed on the amount of water used.

With the new fee, they'll be billed based on the amount of impervious surface area on the property, like pavement and rooftops. That means properties that generate more stormwater runoff volume will pay more for their share of the impact on the stormwater system.

"The recent excessive development of multifamily housing, therefore developers should have to pay for impact fees or charges based on impervious surfaces when they build new developments," another resident named Betty said.

County officials said residents would have seen an increase between $2.17 and $4 per month on average.

"In [this] current economic environment, your constituents, who will be voting in May, say these additional fees and taxes are unnecessary," said a resident named Kathy.

County officials explained 60 other counties and cities, including DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, already charge a stormwater fee.

Commissioners took in all the concerns and decided to table the issue to give everyone time to take a closer look at it. It is expected to be brought back up in August.