Bill explanations come at Edison Council meeting

EDISON – All three public commenters at Edison’s recent city council meeting expressed concerns over rising utility bills.

The southwest Georgia city experienced rate increases across the board after Edison Mayor Shirley Worthy and city accountant Lori Moore discovered the city operated at a deficit for years. Tax, water and sewage rates were not raised to meet inflation and rising costs. So current city leadership needed to change residential bills to reflect these rising costs and keep the city profitable.

These changes were implemented at the beginning of 2024 but caught many residents by surprise as both the mayor and Moore said they receive calls on a daily basis about high bills. They both have said at each meeting that they are working with customers on an individual basis to pinpoint possible issues like leaks or broken water meters, which many households throughout the city were dealing with.

Stephanie Starling, an Edison resident, said at the meeting that she’s lived in her Edison home since 2005, and her utility rates have mostly remained the same.

Now, she said her bill has hiked, and she doesn’t understand why as it doesn’t reflect the size of her household. She isn’t alone. Concerns over raised bills being pushed on residents of one of the poorest counties in Georgia have been discussed at nearly every council meeting since November.

A Dec. 11 council meeting introduced higher sewer and water rates, with the help of the Georgia Rural Water Association, which is a nonprofit that helps address rural water and wastewater needs.

The new base charge is $13.46 for water and $15.36 for sewer. There are additional debt services and administration charges. The average customer in Edison uses about 3,100 gallons of water, which would generate a $29.46 water bill and $50.66 sewer bill, or about $80 total, he said.

Moore said repairs on broken water meters resumed at a total of about $85 per meter. One hundred fifteen of the city’s meters were discovered to be improperly reading residential water usage and leading to false bills. Residents with these meters are charged a minimum fee no matter how much water is used.

Moore also said at the March meeting that they discovered Edison is paying more for residential garbage services than it is collecting. She began an internal audit to compare the express disposal bill to the city’s records to ensure everything is accurate. She found the city has 431 residential cans but is being billed for 508.

“So we know we have a problem somewhere,” Moore said. “We’re working on finding where that problem is.”

Councilman Curtis Adams said there could be people with two trash cans who aren’t being billed for both or there could be less trash cans than what the trash pickup service believes the city has.

Worthy said this is a result of the city’s ineffective billing system “and the way things have been handled in the past.” The city recently hired a new billing clerk, Carol Carter, to better keep track of these things.

The mayor said the last few weeks have been hectic as the city addresses its water issues, but city officials and workers are working diligently to reach solutions.

She said other things on city leadership’s radar are dealing with overflowing commercial trash cans creating litter ,and blighted, unsafe properties throughout town. She asked residents to come forward if they notice any unsafe or dilapidated properties that need to be taken care of.

Rena Timpson, the most recently added councilwoman, spoke at the end of the council meeting. She said she’s new to this – it’s her first time being on a city council.

Timpson said she takes the position personally because she lives in the city as well.

“I’m a citizen,” she said. “I pay bills just like everybody else.”

Timpson said taking on the responsibility is a challenge she’s accepted.

“I want my city to be like it used to be,” she said. “New members bring new changes.”

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
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