Utility Benefits

Fair Distribution of Costs

The mission of the Athens-Clarke County Government in establishing a stormwater management program is to generate the amount of funding needed to support the program in the most fair and equitable way possible. The ACC Commissioners, with the input of the community through the Stormwater Advisory Committee, determined that establishing a stormwater utility would be the ideal way to successfully implement and fund an effective stormwater program.

Equitable and Reliable Source of Funding

The establishment of a utility allows Athens-Clarke County to develop a cost efficient program to manage stormwater with an equitable and reliable source of funding. A utility allows the ACC Government to legally and fairly assess fees based on the quantity and quality of the water that runs off a given property.

Alternative sources of funding such as property tax assessments for stormwater management were also considered. However, raising property tax assessments to fully fund the program would not distribute the costs fairly. Ideally, the owners of properties who contribute considerable amounts of runoff to the stormwater system should be charged more than those that do not. By raising the tax rate, everyone is charged a similar rate regardless of their specific property use or on-site stormwater controls. Some of the largest contributors to stormwater runoff including schools, churches, and government buildings, are all tax-exempt and would not pay their share through property taxes. These property owners do pay a stormwater utility fee just as they pay for their water and sewer utility fees. The establishment of a stormwater utility ensures that everyone pays their fair share for the safe management of stormwater and sound protection of water quality in Athens-Clarke County.