VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) – Across South Georgia, people are feeling the sting of higher utility bills. Now, Valdosta residents are facing another increase in less than a year — on top of lingering issues from recent billing problems.

The new 8% rate increase for Valdosta’s water, sewer and sanitation services took effect on Aug. 1, following last year’s 8.5% hike.

Jacinta Howell, a Valdosta resident, said, “To have this increase and not have it even be communicated in a fashion to where people were expecting it... It was literally communicated by sending out the bill. That’s something I would expect better of the city to communicate that.”

This comes just months after customers dealt with billing issues the city promised to resolve by March. But customers like Howell said the hike couldn’t come at a worse time.

Earlier this year, the city held a town hall meeting where citizens addressed the issues surrounding incorrect meter reading and inconsistency in the number of days being billed.

At that time, city leaders said the replacement of meter endpoints would help with reading problems. Howell said the issue still hasn’t been resolved.

“So one, you don’t know what your water bill is going to be, and two, you don’t know when you’re going to receive it because it’s not on a consistent basis. And then you have to evaluate that with making decisions about what other things you can pay for to sustain the way you need to. That’s really difficult,” she said.

The city of Valdosta’s Customer Service Department said the increase is “necessary to continue providing quality services, maintain critical infrastructure and keep pace with rising operational and maintenance costs.”

The updated service rates and fees are as follows:

1. New Service Activation:
   1. $100 deposit
   2. $27 service fee
2. Temporary Service Activation:

According to the city, these fees cover the administrative costs of account setup, service connection and short-term service use. But citizens want know what’s included in the services they are paying for.

“[What] we actively - in our household - try to practice is recycling. And that’s something that has been temporarily suspended as of almost five years ago, and [it] would be helpful to know if those services are even coming back because that is still something we’re paying for.”

Citizens believe a series of town hall meetings could bring more transparency and better communication about why utility bills are rising and what’s being done to address the issues.

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