Aug. 24--The Macon Water Authority plans to discuss gradual rate increases or rate restructuring as it continues the process of crafting its 2010 budget.

The combination of a wetter year and a dismal economy has meant less water usage and less income for the utility, which began freezing open jobs a few months ago and plans to continue.

The authority already expects to make about $3 million less in net profit this year than it expected, authority director Tony Rojas said. Even so, the authority expects a net income of $4.2 million and is budgeting the same amount for next year.

Based on the first nine months of the fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, total water use among MWA customers dropped 4 percent from the previous fiscal year, Rojas said. And June consumption was 20 percent less than last year.

The drought that gripped the state last summer has ended, but that doesn't account for the entire difference, Rojas said. Water consumption has dropped even in the winter months, when there is usually little yearly fluctuation because people aren't watering their lawns. He attributes the difference to customers economizing during the recession.

The floundering economy and particularly the construction slowdown has hit the utility in the pocketbook. It means the authority has less fee income arriving from new water and sewer hookups and expansion of the system. And the authority has watched its income on investments drop from a high of about $2.5 million several years ago to just $800,000, Rojas said.

The authority's income from growth-related fees has been almost sliced in half, dropping from $4.9 million in 2007 to $2.7 million this year, Rojas said.

The workload has disappeared from jobs that involved locating utility lines for developers and inspecting new sewer lines, he said.

"We were doing over 18,000 locates (of utility lines) a month," Rojas gave as an example. "But we had a little over 2,000 last month."

TIGHTENING BELTS

Rojas has suggested postponing purchases and seeking loans from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority for two big infrastructure projects: a sewage pump station at Allen Road for $2.5 million and a new sewer line between the Corbin and Lennox pump stations for $4 million.

The Corbin-Lennox sewer line has seen repeated sewage spills as growth in north Bibb County overwhelms it.