GEORGETOWN, Ky. — City leaders in Georgetown came together Monday night to discuss a revised water and sewer rate ordinance to help ease the initial rate increase. It’s a multimillion-dollar issue that has caused concern for residents in the community.  

What You Need To Know

  • Georgetown’s city council meeting on Monday discussed a revised water and sewer rate ordinance

  • The increase comes after two mistakes cost the city nearly $50 million 

  • The newly made proposal from Monday night’s meeting says it would allow for some relief by spreading out the increase

  • Some community members voiced their concerns about the increase in the meeting 

Georgetown mayor Tom Prather said it’s an issue that will affect water and sewer rates, and says this increase comes after two mistakes cost the city nearly $50 million. 

“Dumping the burden of the responsibility of someone else of negligence, is not OK,” said one community member at the city council meeting.

The first issue was that the engineering firm in charge of rebuilding the city’s wastewater treatment plant didn’t specify a sufficient amount of structural concrete and reinforcing steel. Also, consultants made a math error in 2019 on the interest payments on the bond that funded the construction, Prather said. 

“This should pull at your heartstrings. You know, they gotta lay down at night. ‘Should I pay my water bill or should I buy groceries or formula? Should I put gas in my car?’ That’s tough,” said another community member at the meeting.

A representative from the water company along with council member David Lusby proposed an additional way to pay this increase.

In the original proposal, given on Nov. 28, the first year would’ve seen a 39% increase followed by a 19% increase in the second year, and 5% the third year.

The new proposal from Monday night’s meeting would allow for some relief by spreading out the increase, meaning 19% for the first three years. 

“As soon as I have known any piece of information about any of this situation, I have brought it to the city council and the public as soon as we knew about it,” Prather said. 

The new proposal would push back the start date from January to March, but some concerned citizens say they don’t see room for growth in these new proposals.

“Mistakes happen. We’re all human, we’re all human, we all make mistakes. But now we’re left to suffer from this mistake because there’s been no plan, no vision for growth,” said a community member during the council meeting. 

The mayor says this new additional proposal will be discussed further once the new council members and city officials take their places next year. 

The council members and mayor are hoping this new proposal will help ease some concerns within the community and are working to find alternative solutions for this inevitable increase.

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