The first of two public hearings on a proposed stormwater fee in Cobb County and other code amendments will take place next week.
The hearings are scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday before the Cobb Board of Commissioners. The hearings, during a regular BOC meeting, are being delayed by a day due to Veteran’s Day holiday on Tuesday.
Currently Cobb stormwater customers are charged through their water and sewer bills based on the amount of impervious surfaces on their properties.
The major change from the original proposal—which was tabled last year after heated opposition from citizens—includes a flat $4.75 per month for residential customers.
Commercial and institutional customers would also be billed $4.75 month per 3,700 square feet of impervious surface.
The fee would apply to customers in unincorporated Cobb and the City of Mableton, whose stormwater management is handled by the county. Five of Cobb’s six other cities charge their own stormwater fees; Marietta does not.
At a BOC work session last month, Cobb Water System director Judy Jones said that a stormwater fee is badly needed because not enough revenue is being generated to maintain the aging system, and to address a growing backlog (you can watch a replay here).
Those issues were made more urgent following flooding in 2021 that damaged the homes and properties of many East Cobb residents, some of whom said a new stormwater fee wouldn’t solve their problem.
That’s because homeowners were on the hook for expensive repairs if the county couldn’t determine if their property was on a county plat. Other critics have condemned what they have called a “rain tax.”
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb has been opposed to an additional fee since the county transfers revenues from the water department to the general fund.
Jones admitted during the work session that a fee is not going to solve all of the county’s stormwater issues, but it “allows us to enhance our services. We need to get caught up with what we have outgrown.”
She also said the revenues transferred from the water system to the general fund aren’t enough to fund stormwater repairs.
In the current Cobb fiscal year 2026 budget, that transfer amount is $11 million, but only $300,000 comes from stormwater revenue.
Cobb is spending more than $9 million in FY 2026 for stormwater services; the proposed stormwater fee would generate around $17 million a year.
You can click through the slides presented at the work session below; the county has provided further information at a special Stormwater Funding page. Another hearing will be held Nov. 20 prior to a BOC vote on the stormwater fee and other proposed code amendments.
The BOC meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the county office building at 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta. You can view the full agenda by clicking here.
You also can watch the hearing on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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Message to the entire Cobb Board of Commissioners: No. No new taxes. It doesn’t matter what name you give them, “rain tax”, “stormwater fee” etc., we the people are done with local, state or federal government institutions inventing new and different ways to keep taking our hard-earned money. If you want to direct money to storm water, that’s fine…Do what we do in our private lives, direct money from another cause to support your desire Got it?