There will be a special called meeting of the Vance County Water District Board on Thursday, September 26th at 3:00pm . The meeting will take place in the Commisioners’ Conference Room located in the Vance County Administration Building at 122 Young street, Henderson.
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During the September 9, Commissioner’s meeting we learned that in Phase 1A maybe 55% of county’s property owners have agreed to drink from the county wide water faucet. USDA requires 80% to connect. This afternoon a sub-committee of the Water Board, also known as Board of Commissioners, intends to approve a penalty on those uncertain they need or want county wide water. This new carrot and cudgel approach for extorting water customers puts more life in the rumor about banning the use of private wells for in-home use if insufficient customers signup. Also during the September 9, Commissioners’ meeting Commissioner Brummitt ferreted out the real dollar costs for water. His back of the envelope calculation indicates the monthly cost to be in the $70 range. For those with more memory than a fish well recall former Board Chairman Danny Wright’s proclamation that water would cost only $42 per month ($0.0084 x 5,000 gallons per month). Four of our current commissioners supported that view then. Will the water rate include a tiered fee structure that rewards conservation of water instead of wastefulness?
Well the cat is finally out of the bag and the news is not good for those who committed to county water. Former Board of Commissioners Chairman Danny Wright was unequivocal about the cost of water when selling county wide water to the voters. He stated water would cost no more than $.0084 per gallon for 5,000 gallons or only $42.00 a month. Today we learned the new speculative cost for 3,300 gallons of water is $63.00 a month. Using Mr. Wright original promised 5,000 gallons of water would cost the customer $65.95. So after five years of waiting water customers now know they will pay 57% more for 34% less than what was they were told. By the way that $63.00 a month water bill comes with a huge caveat; it assumes an additional 1,200 property owners commit to water in Phase 1A alone. To achieve this great offer the County is spending an additional $460,000 (54.8%) a year to operate and maintain the water project than Mr. Wright and four sitting commissioners promised it would cost. In the for profit world a management team that misses targeted projections by such extremes is afforded an opportunity to pursue their other interests.