Contact: Mr. Bill DeFoor, Utility Director, City of Toccoa, P.O. Box 579, Toccoa, GA 30577, 706/282-3311, bdefoor@alltel.net

Mr. Clifton Wilkinson, County Administrator, Stephens County, P.O. Box 386, Toccoa, GA 30577 706/886-9491, 706/886-7766 (fax)

Description of Effort
By 1986, the statewide drought caused many private wells in Stephens County to go dry. The City of Toccoa had good water supply sources and ran above ground water lines, on an emergency basis, to unincorporated areas of the county. City and county officials saw an opportunity to jointly develop a long-term solution to the water supply problem. Since then, the City of Toccoa and Stephens County have undertaken a cooperative, $20 million program to extend water supply and distribution to unincorporated areas of the county. Today, 98% of the county’s citizens have access to government provided water supply services. This program also resulted in two privately owned systems being incorporated into the governmentally owned system.

Managerial Considerations
After passage of a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) referendum, a city-county contract was drawn defining roles and responsibilities, where the extended distribution lines would be located, which party had inspection responsibilities, how rates would be structured, and the city’s ownership of the system. County officials decided where the lines would be placed in the county and managed the SPLOST funds while the city inspected construction of the lines to meet standards and EPD regulations. The contract was extended at the time a second SPLOST referendum passed. It will expire when all SPLOST funds have been expended.

The decision for the city to own the county-wide water supply system was based on the city’s access to adequate water sources, its existing system that could be expanded and its managerial and technical capabilities to manage the water supply system. The county did not have any real desire to enter into the water service business.

Technical Considerations
The city’s three sources of water include Cedar Creek that supplies the city water reservoir; Davison Lake in Habersham County; and Lake Yonah, a Georgia Power lake providing emergency supply. When the program began the City operated 100 miles of distribution lines. The system now includes more than 300 miles of distribution lines.

Over the course of the project, water lines were run to three private water systems. Two of those systems have been replaced by the county-wide system. In one case, the city incorporated the service area of an owner/operator who had died leaving no one to maintain the failing private system that was under threat of closure by EPD. A second private system was voluntarily closed by the owner/operator when water lines were extended to the service area. The third private system is still operating with parallel private and city lines in the service area. Some customers have chosen the private system service while others chose the city water service.

The city provides wastewater service to a limited service area, three hundred residents, in the county in addition to its city customers. The remaining residents in unincorporated areas of the county use private septic systems. Wastewater services were not extended county-wide because of terrain, the lack of an adequate stream to accept discharge waters and the fact that no county land use plan exists so the governments can not plan for long-range collection and treatment services.

Financial Considerations
The City of Toccoa, Stephens County and the Chamber of Commerce sponsored the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendums used to fund capital costs. The initial cooperative effort was designed as a five-year program. After the five-year period, not all of the county had water so another five year SPLOST was passed and the cooperative city/county program was extended. The program will continue until funds from the second referendum are spent. Once the remaining SPLOST funds have been spent, the water system will be supported through tap-in fees and service fee revenues only.

Before the city - county contract was drawn there was a 1.9 rate differential between the two jurisdictions. The contract set a 1.25 rate differential, but over the course of the ten-year program the rate structure has been equalized.

Outcomes
The success of this cooperative effort can be attributed to the City of Toccoa elected officials and staff and the three member County Commission.

Community support of the use of the SPLOST to fund capital requirements was also very important. This project illustrates that a compelling issue or need can help local officials look beyond their own turf to seek community-wide solutions. When the need was identified and participants agreed to work as a team, a tremendous project was accomplished with complete cooperation.

As a result of county-wide water supply service, the county and city have realized tremendous economic development opportunities. The City of Toccoa has been able to attract additional industries that require adequate water supplies, some of which are located outside of the city jurisdiction. An additional benefit is enhanced county-wide fire protection capability. County-wide fire hydrant coverage is approximately 99%; in some areas the ISO rating has dropped.