What will amount to a couple of dollars per month for the average household will be enough to balance the utility budget and make the town eligible for millions of dollars in financial help.
After coming out as Richmond County’s million dollar Golden LEAF applicant, Ellerbe is looking to get the remaining $3.5 million of the $4.5 million needed for the Ellerbe-Richmond County-Rockingham Wastewater Regionalization Initiative through loans and grants.
“Most of these entities love to have matching funds,” said council member Jerry Meacham. He along with council member Archie Robinson and Lumber River Council of Governments representative Jim Perry, will be going to Raleigh to meet with lenders on June 16.
“If we have $1 million, we can request $1 million, and they’re more likely to give it to us because we have the money. We’re meeting with several agencies (in Raleigh on June 16) to try and beg for money — and if we’re not eligible, why go up there?”
The project entails running a sewer line along the U.S. Hwy 220 corridor from the Ellerbe area to the City of Rockingham’s wastewater treatment plant.
Right now the sewer department spends more than it takes in. A 31 percent increase in sewer rates has been proposed in the new budget. That would allow the town to break even on water and sewer operations.
The town charges a combined monthly fee for water, sewer and trash collection. The sewer rate would go from $7.96 to $10.07 per 2,000 gallons per month, which is considered by the town to be average household use. That would make the overall bill for that household’s water, sewer and trash collection go from $23.21 to $25.32.
Such an increase would put the town’s combined water and sewer rate at 1.5 percent of what lenders recognize as the town’s median household income, making Ellerbe eligible for four key funding options: Supplemental grant funds from the North Carolina Rural Center; grants from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund; low-interest loans from the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and low-interest loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Water and Wastewater program.
“Compared to everybody else, our rates are extremely low because we’re losing money on sewer and water,” said Meacham. “Just raising sewer rates alone right now may be OK, but at some point in time we’re going to have to raise water rates to make it equal to everyone else.”
To illustrate his point, Meacham held up a 16-ounce bottle of water, which he purchased for 98 cents. He pointed out that the water came from a town’s water system in New York, and was basically no different from local tap water. Based on data from the Lumber River Council of Governments, Meacham explained that one could buy 248 bottles of Ellerbe water for 98 cents - a better bargain than almost any other county in the council’s service area.
“We’ve got the best deal in Richmond County,” he said.
Because rates have been kept unrealistically low, that “deal” is too good to be true. Meacham urged increased vigilance of town financial data to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“If you take a loss a couple of years, the state starts to look at you,” he said. “The auditor came in and said “Everything’s great, hunky dory, bye.’ This (operations data) should be reviewed every year instead of every three years.”
A public hearing to discuss the new budget, which includes the sewer rate increase, was set for June 29. The council will vote on the budget at that time. If approved, the increase will go into affect July 1.
Other matters discussed at the meeting included the present zoning of downtown businesses, which Council member John Sears, Jr. asked the council to review and possibly amend. The council agreed to accept no new applications for privilege licenses until the next meeting, giving them time to address and amend the ordinance if needed.
Bradley Vuncannon, a representative of the Ellerbe Lions Club, came to ask that the council name a road or street after the late Tim Bennett, who died in the Richmond Yarns fire. A segment of Second Street between Page and Sunset Streets was suggested. The council agreed that the matter must be taken up with the county first due to 911 compliance.
The possibility of a decibel-based noise ordinance was also discussed, after citizens present at the meeting and some council members brought up complaints of late-night disturbances in various neighborhoods.
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