Explainer: Most Taxes Aren’t Going to Fix Atlanta’s Water Pipes

The Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST) for the City of Atlanta’s water and sewer projects has resurfaced for discussion after water main breaks left many Atlantans without water or with a boil water advisory for most of last week. Why are old water pipes breaking, residents wonder, when Atlanta has been paying the highest sales tax in 20 years now?

Here’s the short answer: Although this one-cent sales and use tax was intended to fund water and sewer projects, it largely went toward crucial wastewater improvements.

The Environmental Protection Agency ordered the cleanup following repeated sewage overflows into the Chattahoochee River and other local waterways. The city agreed to two decrees, which are court-ordered performance improvement plans, in 1998 and 1999 to repair combined sewer overflows (CSO) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) – at a cost estimated at $4 billion. Additionally, a portion of MOST’s revenue is allocated to stormwater management projects, such as runoff mitigation.

Atlanta voters just approved paying the one-cent MOST sales tax for four more years in the May 21 primary election. Since then, the water outage that began last Friday has sparked an outcry for repairs to the city’s antiquated water pipes. The water main that broke in Mechanicsville was about 80 years old and the one in Midtown was nearly 100 years old, according to media reports.

But water and sewer pipes are different: Sewer pipes carry dirty water out of the city, not clean water into it.

“This one-cent sales tax – which is shared by residents and visitors – helps improve our city’s water and sewer infrastructure without increasing the price of services, which disproportionately affects our most vulnerable communities,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said when voters reauthorized the top tax last month. “With your support, we are creating a safer, more sustainable infrastructure and a city built for the future. »

The MOST tax has generated more than $2.5 billion in revenue since 2004, when it was first implemented. According to Atlanta Watershed Management, the MOST tax has so far helped fund more than $2.3 billion in sewer system improvements.

These corrective measures reduced the number of sewer spills by 62% and the volume of sewer spills by 94%. The city also used the revenue to repair and replace more than 387 miles of aged sewer pipes.

Since 2004, Atlanta voters have overwhelmingly approved extending the MOST tax for additional four-year periods. Without MOST sales tax revenue, the city estimates there would be a 25 percent increase in water and sewer rates for Atlanta residents. The tax is set to expire in 2028.