On February 22nd, 2006, Commissioners Brian Tam, Jack Conway and Linda Ledbetter attempted to force an extension of a finished water contract with the City of Cumming. The present contract expires in 2012 and the extension was for another ten years, until 2022. The attempt failed through the lack of having 4 votes. On March 11th, 2006, a Public Hearing on the proposed contract was held to obtain citizen input on the proposed water contract. Since that public hearing, there has been postponement after postponement of meaningful discussion on this issue.

If Commissioners Tam, Conway, and Ledbetter don’t want to discuss this issue openly, Commissioners Charles Laughinghouse and David Richard will bring their case to the public. We feel that Commissioners Tam, Conway, and Ledbetter, who favor extending this contract, are purposely delaying discussion on this issue to make this a campaign issue before the July primary.

In fact, two candidates for county commission have mentioned this contract extension as part of their reasons to have people vote for them. We feel it is time for residents and voters of Forsyth County to have the myth separated from the facts regarding this issue.

The existing contract is in place until 2012, six years from now. It guarantees that Forsyth County will buy a minimum of 4.5 million gallons per day of finished water from the City of Cumming. Current pricing is $2.20 per thousand gallons, with adjustments for inflation built into the contract.

Myth #1: Forsyth County could face a water shortage this summer if the finished water contract isn’t renewed.

Mayor Gravitt, City Manager Blackburn, Commissioners Tam and Ledbetter and Pam Bowman, candidate for District 1 commissioner have all expressed fear that Forsyth County may not have enough water for residents this summer if the finished water contract is not extended.

Fact: A finished water contract extension has nothing to do with water supply for Forsyth County in the short term. There is adequate finished water capacity between the city and county water systems to handle all our estimated combined needs for the next 5-7 years. The city has only voiced a need to build another 6 million gallons per day capacity in finished water, and improvements to the raw water intake to maximize the amount of water the city and county are permitted to withdraw.

Financial Fact: The city gets a minimum of $2.3 million dollars per year from Forsyth County ratepayers because of our contract. It will cost approximately $6 million to build the capacity that the city requires to handle all city finished water needs through the year 2025 or later. In 2.6 years or less, that new capacity is paid for, well before the existing contract expires.

So, the question needs to be asked, what does extending a finished water contract that is already guaranteed to add capacity to the city’s water system have to do with overall water supply for Forsyth County? Is Forsyth County being threatened to have our water supply shut off or reduced if we don’t capitulate to city demands to extend this contract?

Myth #2: The city needs a guaranteed financial stream to fund improvements to their water system.

Fact: Commissioner Tam has stated that the city needs to have a guaranteed financial stream in order to bond improvements to their system. We’ve already discussed the money currently in the finished water contract to fund new finishing capacity for the city system, but there will also be an additional $7.8 million minimum over and above the money the city needs. Estimates range from $4 - $6 million to upgrade the raw water intake to maximum allowable capacity, and the county is obligated through our raw water contract to pay for 43% of all improvements to the intake. At $2.6 million maximum county contribution, this still leaves the city with at least $5.2 million over and above their costs using the existing finished water contract.

Financial Fact: All these figures assume no increase in the rate structure for the next 6 years. The city could rake in even more than the minimum if rates continue to go up as they have in past years. The latest audit of the City of Cumming reveals that the City’s utility department has $45 million on hand to fund future system improvements.

So the question here needs to be asked, why does the city need a guaranteed funding source extended for an additional 10 years, when they can get all the money needed to fund their water infrastructure in the next 6 years of the existing contract?

Myth #3: Forsyth County can’t finish our own water supply, so we need the city to do it for us.

Fact: Today, we can’t. But in less than two years, Forsyth County can add 16 million gallons per day of finished water capacity to our system, and we have the funding to do it today through water and sewer bonds. That will give us capacity to finish all our water needs for the next 5-7 years or longer. By not extending this contract today, Forsyth County residents will be paying Forsyth County to fund our improvements, not the City of Cumming for improvements they don’t need, and we don’t want.

The city is claiming that they’ll help Forsyth County to get our own raw water intake with the Corps of Engineers if we sign the finished water extension. That is water blackmail, and we will not submit to it. If the city really has any influence with the Corps of Engineers (and we have no reason to believe they do), then they should use it willingly, as we would, if they want to see this county develop properly.

We’re tired of having this contract extension delayed, and we’re tired of having threats and accusations thrown at us when we have the best interests of Forsyth County residents at hand. If this contract is extended, Forsyth County residents will pay between $24 - $35 million in extra finished water fees they do not need to pay, to a city that doesn’t need the money to fund new water infrastructure. We were not elected to capitulate to threats from other governmental agencies; we were elected to protect the best interests of Forsyth County residents. We are not here to sell out the interests of Forsyth County residents in order to insure 10 years of extra water fees to the City of Cumming.

There is no shortage of water that can be blamed on not extending this finished water contract. The only shortage of water that can occur will be if there is an extended drought, or if growth is not managed properly by current and future commissions. There is no financial need to extend this contract for another 10 years, except to guarantee that Forsyth County money continues to drain into city coffers. Any commissioner, or candidate for commissioner, that doesn’t understand this basic fact just doesn’t understand that capitulation is never in the best interests of Forsyth County.

We are willing to co-operate with the city in renegotiating the raw water intake currently in place to enable Forsyth County to pay for a more equitable share of the upgrades to our current shared intake. We are willing to fund the entire cost of a new, deep-water intake to be shared with the City if the Corps of Engineers will grant access to the lake. But that is all. If Forsyth County residents want a commission who will place the needs of Forsyth County first, and not the City of Cumming, then they don’t want this finished water contract extended and they definitely need a change in leadership next year.