On Monday the Tallapoosa City Council voted to increase utility deposits during their regular City Council meeting.

Tallapoosa Mayor William “Pete” Bridges says the city has some of the lowest deposit rates in the area for water and gas utilities, which causes a problem when homeowners or renters leave the city without paying their final bills.

“Unlike Georgia Power, we can’t catch up with someone when they try to open an account in another city,” Bridges said. “Raising the deposits would alleviate our bad numbers at the end of the year.”

Water deposit rates for homeowners were raised from $20 to $50, while the gas deposit rate remained the same. Deposit rates for renters went up from $40 to $150 for water, and from $100 to $250 for gas.

The measure passed unanimously.

Those who open accounts with the city will still have their deposits returned at the end of one year of continuous service. The increase, effective immediately, will only affect new customers.

During the Mayor’s Report, Bridges announced that several Tallapoosa Recreational ball teams won championships in recent weeks. The 7 and 8 year old boys, 11 and 12 year old boys, and the 9 and 10 year old girls all now have championship titles. Additionally, Tallapoosa will host the District 5 championships on June 21 and 23, the winners of which will go to the state championship.

Bridges also reported that the city is currently surveying its sewer pipes and has identifies some problem areas that will be addressed.

The mayor also asked residents to pick up their trash containers and move them away from the road as soon as possible after trash collection to avoid the containers ending up in the streets, which would place liability on the city.

Bridges reminded everyone of the July 4 festivities. Their will be a program at League Lowe Memorial Park at 10 a.m. The parade will begin at 1 p.m., and Helton Howland Park will open at 3 p.m. Fireworks will go off at dark.

In other business, the council approved the reappointment of Barbara Bridges and Charlotte Ellis to the Tallapoosa Library Board.

During the City Manager’s Report, City Manager Phillip Eidson announced that the city will begin their water audit soon to come into compliance with new Georgia Department of Natural Resource regulations.

“Before we were able to put our water losses into one column and just label it as ‘losses,’” Eidson said. “However, now, we have to account for where we are loosing that water, whether it be in leaks, low readings, etc.”

Eidson said the city is currently going through the training to learn how to record the necessary data so that they will be ready for the March 2013 deadline for the new procedures.

It was also announced that the city will be replacing their usual 2 miles of gas pipes this year. This summer, the city will be working on pipes along High, Michigan and Connecticut Streets.

The next Tallapoosa City Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, July 9.