By MIKE HELM

Paul Avery, a resident of Clarendon-Chadbourn Road, is upset. He has to pay county Water District 2 taxes even though he doesn’t have access to the water line.

Avery owns property on Midway Road, which has county water, and he’s paying his taxes on that lot but said he won’t pay the tax on his Clarendon-Chadbourn Road property.

Avery thought he’d start complaining at the top and wrote a letter to the head of the state Department of Revenue asking if the tax was illegal. He was advised by the Department of Revenue to pay the tax.

The Columbus County Board of Commissioners, facing a revenue shortfall in the district, had no choice under state law but to tax everyone, whether or not they had access to water. The tax was reluctantly imposed two years ago and continued last year. It will stay in place until enough users sign up for water to pay the district’s bond payments and operating expenses.

It wasn’t until Avery went to local elected officials and started calling county commissioners that he got results. Avery called commissioners Amon McKenzie and David Dutton. Dutton got in touch with commission Chairman Kip Godwin and the ball started rolling.

Within a few days, county Water Superintendent Leroy Sellers was measuring the stretch of road and verifying the housing density. Avery was excited about the sudden progress.

Sellers said there were more than enough houses to justify a water line but the county needs to confirm that people want water.

“We shoot for 15 houses per mile and y’all have half of that,” Sellers told Avery. “Keep working on that petition. This water district needs the sign-ups. It needs the customers.”

Avery had taken up a petition and so far, has 11 signatures of residents who want county water. They are upset about paying the tax, Avery said, and the well water in the area is loaded with rust. Avery and his friend Danny Fowler are continuing to collect signatures.

There are potentially more than 30 customers along a 9,100-foot stretch of Clarendon-Chadbourn Road from N.C. 410 to Peacock Road, not counting houses along private roads, and nine lots are up for sale.

“It’s a slow process but once you’ve kicked the wheels in gear, you’ve started,” Sellers said. “I don’t see why we can’t do it.”

Building the line would require an engineering study, Sellers said, and construction would cost at least $50,000 per mile but the project would have another benefit. It would take out two dead ends from the county water system and form a loop between N.C. 410 and Peacock Road.

That means the county would have two less hydrants to bleed on a regular basis, saving manpower and conserving water.

The problem is money.

Dutton said he had been making calls and was trying to find a way to extend a water line. “I can’t promise we can do anything but I promise we’ll put our best effort into it,” Dutton said.

“I’m pretty well satisfied with the way things are going right now,” Avery said. “Things have gotten going since we got (the right people) involved.”

McKenzie said there was already a grant application being worked on for the part of Clarendon-Chadbourn Road west of N.C. 410. That money could be redirected. He said he also thought there might be money available for the engineering study, which can take up to six months to complete.

“It’s exciting to see there are people really interested in the water,” Godwin said. “Having residents sign up is the way to see the tax go away. We all would like to see the tax go away.”

The county has tried mandatory water hookups, which residents revolted against, and special incentives to encourage water hookups. Commissioners shied about extending water lines after the revolt against mandatory hookups.

The latest water incentive, which allows users to sign up for a $100 tap fee, expires today. The fee would then return to its usual $400.

Godwin said he hopes commissioners would extend the incentive again when they convene Tuesday night.

Since July 6, 2005, 39 customers in District 1 have responded to the incentive. District 2 has attracted 14 new customers, while there have been 16 in District 3 and seven in Acme.