VALDOSTA – City residents should see a change in their water bills soon. 

Valdosta City Council convened for its regular meeting Thursday evening and approved a $9.5 million project to replace the 25,000 water meters in the city. Councilman Ben Norton was the only member to vote in opposition.

Daryl Muse, director of utilities for Valdosta, told council that water meters need to be replaced every 10-15 years and that current water meters are squarely in the replacement age.

The new water meters and system from IBT Group will present a series of improvements from the current water meters, Muse said. Those improvements include system analytics identifying pipe leaks and bursts, residents being able create custom alerts, remote shutoff in case of a leak or burst and flexible scheduling with remote readings.

In an interview Friday morning, Muse said the goal of the new system is to have 98.5% of water meters checked remotely. With remote readings, the need for “meter readers” will be obsolete.

Valdosta City Manager Mark Barber said none of the 10 city employees who read the meters will lose their jobs. He explained the city had open positions elsewhere in the utilities department where the meter readers will be relocated. Barber added the department specifically did not fill recent open positions in anticipation of the meter readers needing to be moved.

Chuck Dinkins, city finance director, told council the city will pay for the project with SPLOST VII money and might be able to recoup almost $1 million by a May loan forgiveness program offered by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, reducing the overall cost to $8.5 million.

Dinkins added the new system would increase accuracy as well, which would provide the city with increased revenue. The current system measured around 90% of actual water usage by residents, so the city has not been able to charge the full amounts to residents.

With more accurate measurements, residents can expect to see an increase in their monthly water bills.

Muse said in the Friday interview he could not say all water bills would increase by 10% but residents should expect an increase.

During the meeting, Vivian Miller-Cody said she would receive calls from her constituents, complaining about the increase in their water bills. 

In other matters from the meeting, members approved an amended water/sewer SDS proposal and a series of vehicle purchases – 15 trucks, a backhoe and a 15-person passenger van – for various departments. Additional items approved were a $938,000 bid for a local maintenance and improvement grant program and a four-year state-wide mutual aid agreement for disaster services.

Mayor Scott James Matheson also awarded a seven-man team from the engineering department for saving the city $160,000 by fixing an aging storm pipe identified in a hole off Wisenbaker Lane last summer. Pat Collins, head of the engineering department, praised the team for its three weeks of work in incredibly hot and uncomfortable conditions while in the hole. 

“You can make sweet tea or bread in that box,” he said.

This story was updated at 11:25 a.m. on Jan. 28 to reflect water meters, not water mains.