Weigh in on the Norcross Water System Agreement

The city of Norcross has some upcoming dates concerning the intergovernmental agreement on Gwinnett County purchasing the water and wastewater system from Norcross.

Gwinnett already has approved the agreement, but the Norcross City Council still needs to vote, which could happen as early as April 1. Until then, there will be three meetings where the council will discuss it and the public has the opportunity to comment on it:

Monday, March 18: The council will have a special called meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Norcross City Hall on the same night of its monthly policy work session. The meeting will include discussion by the public and council of the intergovernmental agreement. Click here to see the agenda item.

Monday, March 25: The city will have a town hall meeting at 7 p.m., complete with a Q&A at the Norcross Community Center.

Monday, March 1: The council's regular work session and meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Public comments are invited, and it's possible the council could vote on it that evening.

Citizens who aren't able to attend the meetings are welcome to submit questions and opinions to communityvoice@norcrossga.net.

So if the agreement goes through in April, what exactly does it mean for the city? The Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources will begin billing Norcross customers for water and sewer services in May or June.

The rates will be moderately higher, according to the city website, but this is because the county's system is larger and will offer operational and maintenance efficiencies in the long term. This increase is substantially less than it would be if the city's costs for operating, maintaining and improving the system were passed on to the citizens.

Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson has noted that the city has been in talks about what to do with its water system for years. Norcross currently bills 2,200 accounts, with a third of citizens are already serviced by the county. The county water and wastewater system is considered one of the best in the state and currently services about 240,000 customers each month.

Information from this article came from the city of Norcross website.

See also:

• County to Purchase Norcross Water System

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