COVINGTON, Ga. — The City of Covington is officially pulling the plug on charging its customers a disconnection fee for unpaid services.

Council members voted 3-3 to remove the fee during Monday’s city council meeting. Mayor Fleeta Baggett broke the tie, voting in favor of removing the fee entirely.

The city previously charged a $30 disconnection fee for any utility services that were not paid 15 days after the listed due date. Councilman Anthony Henderson looked to strike this fee at the March 16 City of Covington meeting. His motion passed 3-2, leading to Monday’s discussion.

Randy Smith, the city’s finance director, said that out of 50 Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) cities, the average cost for disconnection fees is $40, making Covington’s $30 fee below the average. 

Councilman Dwayne Turner argued that the current disconnection fee is too hard on the citizens’ pockets.

“Let’s just say the base bill is $600…The disconnect fee is $30… Plus a 10% late fee which is $63, so now we’re up to $693,” Turner said. “...On top of that we have a 2.5 [percent] card fee…Now you’re up to $710 when that bill was $600.”

Councilman Jared Rutberg disagreed with Turner, citing his acumen as a business owner.

“I don’t like late fees; I just want people to pay their bill on time,” Rutberg said. “...The late fees, disconnect, reconnect, whatever, any of that stuff is simply there to pay their bill on time because it’s tough for the city to operate without having that on there.”

Baggett also chimed in and agreed on emphasizing unpaid collections.

“The City of Covington is a business and we have to buy our stuff,” Baggett said. “We buy our electricity. We buy our gas. We buy our water. We buy everything we have.”

After a question from Councilwoman Charika Davis, Smith revealed that the city collected $234,615 in reconnect fees last year. The average collection per year was $187,637.

Councilman Travis Moore said that the city would have to make up the loss of revenue in some capacity.

“If we don’t have said revenue, then we’re going to have to possibly, potentially increase the millage rate, which is going to increase taxes across the board,” Moore said. “So either way, it’s got to be paid for. Nothing’s for free.”

These numbers do not include the 10% late fee the city currently charges for any utilities that are unpaid past the listed due date. This was something that caught the ire of Henderson.

“You already have a 10% late fee,” Henderson said. “That’s the issue I have; you’re tagging 10% on top of 30 [dollars].”

Henderson also took issue with charging fees that require minimal work. Smith confirmed that the city has to manually disconnect gas and water services. Electric services, however, can be shut off remotely, which was not always the case.

The councilman felt that the fee schedule should reflect the changes made through the city’s advancements.

“If the service has changed, then the fee should change,” Henderson said. “I mean, we shouldn’t be charging yesterday’s price for today’s process.”

Rutberg offered a compromise to decrease the disconnection fee to $20 instead of $30. Henderson rebutted with the idea of removing all disconnection fees but keeping the 10% late fees.

“For right now, I’m OK with just the 10% late fee, no disconnect or reconnect fee,” Henderson said.

Henderson added that he would like to eventually remove the late fee, too, even going as far as introducing an item on Monday’s agenda to reduce the late fee to 5% or charging a flat rate. However, that item was struck after the council voted on the utility disconnection fees.

In the end, Henderson, Davis, Turner and Baggett voted in favor of the motion, while Rutberg, Moore and Councilwoman Kim Johnson voted against it.