Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board members approved a 2023-24 water authority operating budget of $5.4 million when meeting Tuesday, May 30.
The new fiscal year’s budget is up 13 percent from the 2022-2023 budget of $4.8 million. A mid-year budget amendment for 2022-23 was approved due to rising material and supply costs, which also figured into the coming year’s budget.
“Increases in supplies and materials, chemicals and energy costs are the primary reasons for the increase. These increases in the past couple of years have been unlike anything I have ever seen in 30 years in the business,” said Gary McVey, water authority director.
A large-scale system improvement project that will begin shortly after the start of the fiscal year, July 1, will replace a portion of Transite (asbestos cement) water line on South Main Street with new water line. The old line will remain in place, but will be taken out of commission once the new line is installed.
McVey said the project contractor, United Water Solutions (UWS), of Trion, is expected to start work along South Main Street one to two weeks after July 4. The construction will present some traffic difficulties, he confirmed.
Crews will begin installing the new water line near the Hitching Post on South Main Street, and that will require digging underneath the road.
“It will pretty much have traffic impact the whole duration of the job. We’ve talked extensively about that, and they’re submitting a plan to keep traffic moving,” he said. “It’s going to be a little bit of an inconvenience, but it will probably still be two lanes, and they’ll probably be utilizing the turning lane. Hopefully, we can keep traffic moving in both directions and not stop traffic a whole lot like in a flagging situation. I’m hoping we can just reroute everybody.”
The water authority will use a $500,000 Georgia One Equity Grant to partially fund the project, which will also include water line installation along Church Street and River Street. Some sections of Church and River Street might be worked on at night to reduce traffic issues, but that’s yet to be determined, McVey noted.
“The challenge in this particular project compared to other projects is we don’t really have a lot of real estate with all the utilities and stuff already in the ground there. Parts of it are going to move a little faster than others, and there are parts of it that are probably going to move awfully slow,” he added.
Another large-scale system improvement project expected to start in the 2023-24 fiscal year will include laying new, larger water line from Howard Simmons Road to Old Highway 5 to Sunlight Road off Highway 382.
“That will start pretty soon this year. A project contractor has been chosen, and they’re in the process of getting the contracts signed,” said McVey.
Several equipment replacements and upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant are also included in the budget, he added.