Georgetown Municipal Water and Sewer Service proposes a 61% rate increase over the next five years
GEORGETOWN, Ky. (WTVQ) – Community members in Georgetown are outraged about a proposed water and sewage tax rate hike. Georgetown Municipal Water and Sewer Service (GMWSS) talking with concerned citizens at a city council meeting Monday night, looking to dispel what they call any misinformation or confusion surrounding the proposed increase.
“When your bills are up here and your income’s down here and you get a 61% water increase, how are you going to pay that?” asks a concerned Georgetown resident. “They’re going to shut your water off if you don’t pay for it.”
GMWSS proposing the increase now after surveying the area in August. The tax rate increase would total 61% over the next five years.
City council hearing the proposal for the first time on Monday night, along with displeasure from community members who are already struggling to make ends meet.
“We’re all dealing with inflation, I know y’all are aware of that, but to fall back on your residents of Georgetown to recover those costs?” says concerned citizen Richard King.
“We want to do our fair share, we want to see the community grow, we want to be here, we want to raise our children here,” says Erin Fisher, a Georgetown “transplant” resident. “We were in New York and I chose to move here because I had been told Georgetown was a beautiful place, a good community and I wanted my children to grow here and I don’t want to be here anymore.”
The council voting not to approve a motion to table the proposal until the first meeting with the new mayor and city council in January. The proposal will now be read a second time at the December council meeting and action will then be taken.
GMWSS says if the proposal is pushed back even just a month or two, the rate hikes will ultimately be even steeper when they do go into effect.
You can watch Monday’s council meeting and hear the full four-hour discussion at the link HERE.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)