DeKalb leaders defend stormwater fee hike as funding to meet consent‑decree water and sewer obligations

Residents at the Community Connections meeting pressed Commissioner Shakira Johnson about recent fee increases. Johnson explained that separate funds — water & sewer, solid waste and stormwater — are distinct and that recent actions increased each fund to cover program-specific needs. She said stormwater fees had not been raised in over a decade and that the county faces urgent infrastructure work after repeated heavy rains and storm damage in other jurisdictions.

Johnson also described more than $500,000,000 recently allocated from county resources to water, sewer and consultant contracts aimed at meeting obligations under the county’s consent decree. When asked whether individual streets could be prioritized for repairs, Johnson asked residents to send the exact location and promised staff would champion cases flagged by constituents.“So those are different funds... So this year it's going to go up I think $12,” Johnson said, noting the fee covers projects identified in the county's first stormwater master plan and is intended to prevent catastrophic failures like washed‑out roads that strand homes.

Why it matters: The fee increase is directly tied to infrastructure resilience and consent-decree compliance; residents voiced frustration at recurring local problems and wanted clarity on prioritization and timelines. County staff offered to accept location-specific requests for prioritization and to provide updates through newsletters and direct coordination with department heads.