County leaders move to expand water District 4

By NICOLE CARTRETTE

County commissioners voted to expand the boundaries of Water District 4 to the eastern end of the county after a straw poll Monday.

Residents who attended the public hearing at the Riegelwood Community Center voted 25 to 2, by a show of hands, for county water.

Roughly $1.2 million in federal grant money and $4.1 million in loans from 1998 will be lost if it is not used soon, officials said.

Promised no water tax

“It probably won’t go in the ground if we don’t get sign-ups,” County Commissioner Bill Memory said. “We are not going to tax the eastern end like we did water districts 1 and 2.

“We anticipate the growth on the eastern end in the next five years is going to be tremendous,” Memory added.

“It can work and not be anything but a water bill for the people using it,” he assured concerned residents.

With the expansion of the district, the majority of the eastern end is now a part of the Water District 4.

A water line will run along the stretch of four-lane U.S. 74-76 from the Brunswick County line to Money Hole Road, under the Green Engineering proposal.

Water service areas include portions of Old Lake, Money Hole, Water Tank, Delco Prosper, Delco School, and Old 87 roads. Zachary, Peterson, Cronly, Carroll, Livingston, Delco Cemetery, TV Tower, Parker Estates, Carrolls, and Hufham roads are also part of the plan.

Wooded Acres in Lake Waccamaw is included, but north Hallsboro and Honey Hill are not. The small number of users in the western area of the district did not justify the cost and led to expanding the district farther east.

Some residents were upset Kaiser Road and the Prosper community were left out of the plan.

“I don’t want to have to tax you,” Memory responded to residents questioning why some areas were excluded. He insisted that without better densities and enough users the county cannot afford to put water lines in some areas.

“We are not proposing this to be the absolute gospel where waterlines go,” Leo Green of Green Engineering said.

“We’ll see who signs up on these roads and then we will go to the next highest [ranked] road,” Memory said.

Green said roads were chosen based on density and 80 percent usage was factored in for the system to be cost effective and stay within the average rate of $36 for 4,000 gallons of water per month.

Areas excluded

The Riegelwood Sanitary District, supplied with water from International Paper and the municipalities of Lake Waccamaw, Bolton, and Sandyfield, are also excluded from the project. Commissioners said they were open to working with the towns if approached by the governing boards to enter into an agreement of some kind.

Sandyfield Councilwoman Annette Williams told commissioners the town was interested in negotiations. The town is currently searching for favorable financing to implement a water system that essentially would provide residents with water purchased from East Arcadia.

“We would love to work with Sandyfield,” Memory said.

Well proposed

A water tank is proposed off four-lane U.S. 74-76 near the intersection of Hufham and Money Hole roads. He indicated only 25,000 gallons a day can be purchased from Northwest and there are plans to dig a well off U.S. 74-76 on county-owned property at Livingston Creek.

Some residents asked why the area would not have its own district. “The money for District 4 can only be spent in District 4,” Interim County Manager Jim Varner said.

Without expanding District 4, “District 6 may never happen,” Commissioner Kip Godwin explained.

Contract required

Commissioner Amon McKenzie said in districts 2 and 3 there were not enough customers to pay for the system. “What happened is people that signed up did not hook up,” McKenzie said.

The fate of District 4 will be different, commissioners insisted, because residents now sign a contract when they sign up that requires that they pay a bill. The cost to hook on is $500.

Varner indicated those with a strong desire to hook on but cannot afford it may be able to set up a payment plan.

In 2004, roughly $1.8 million was drawn from the fund balance to bail the water districts out. Commissioners voted in taxes of 15 cents per $100 value in District 2 and 11 cents in District 3 to help with the shortfall.

Several residents from the eastern area complaining of dirty well water attended a commissioner meeting last June asking for county water. Many of them reported dirty, rusty, or salty private well water that forced them to purchase bottled water for drinking and cooking.