If you are live in the City of Vidalia and utilize the city’s water and sewer services, your monthly bill is about to slightly increase. That’s what the City Council approved Monday night at its June meeting.
City Manager Nick Overstreet said, “We haven’t had an increase since January 2018 when we went from $8.00 to $9.00 as a flat rate. That’s for 2,000 gallons a month. Before that date, I couldn’t tell you when the last rate increase occurred.”
With the Council’s approval Monday night, the flat rate for residential customers will go to $11.25 a month, but Overstreet reminds customers that does include garbage pick-up, sewer, and limb removal.
According to the City Manager, the majority of the residential customers who are tied into the municipal water and sewer utilities fall within those 2,000-gallon usage each month.
“Even with the increase, we will be way below like-sized cities,” Overstreet noted. “Everything is going up and if we don’t do something to offset the cost, we’re going to get behind. It’s better to increase it gradually than for our citizens to be hit with one huge increase at one time.”
Customers will see the raise in three increments over the next three years, with the first appearing on the July bill which will be payable in August.