City Permitted to Impose Different Rates for Residents and Nonresidents

Nonresidents purchased water from the city of Athens, Georgia, through meters located outside city limits but inside Clarke County. These customers claimed they were charged 2.25 times the rate charged persons inside city limits. They asserted the rates were arbitrary, capricious, and deprived them of their property without due process of law. Furthermore, they argued that their contracts with the city had an open‐price term for the sale of goods and that the rate the city had fixed was unreasonable and in excess of that normally charged. The trail court ruled for the city, and its ruling was upheld by the appellate court.